You’ve heard about the poll conducted here a few months ago by Market Research Services Limited, Jamaica’s leading pollster.
The head of that Company, Mr. Don Anderson, has been on local radio, and the poll continues to be discussed in the media.
It reveals that of the eighteen questions/statements put to voters, there’s no instance in which the majority of the constituencies (either of the eight in St. Kitts or the eleven in St. Kitts and Nevis) reflect positive views of Denzil Douglas.
Voters aren’t impressed with his management of the finances of the country and of the Government, or with his conduct in Parliament, on the platform, or generally.
Only in one constituency do a majority of voters believe that he has the moral authority to lead the country, or that he should remain as Prime Minister. Indeed, only in three out of the eight St. Kitts constituencies do a majority of voters believe that he should even stand as a candidate in the next elections. And in only two of the eight St. Kitts constituencies do a majority say that they’d vote for a Labour candidate in the next elections if Dr. Douglas is that Party’s leader.
In no constituency--not even his own-- do a majority agree that he has credibility and generally tells the truth to the people of the Federation.
However you look at the data, the picture is clear: a critical mass of voters, at least those who live here, have real issues with Dr. Douglas as their leader, and even as a candidate in the next election. He has a massive credibility problem, and many people are disgusted and fed up with him.
Of course, the poll represents a snapshot of people’s feelings and perceptions at a particular time. And those feelings and perceptions can change, either to Dr. Douglas’ advantage, or to his further detriment.
What can he do to improve the picture for him? Pork barrel. Patronage. SIDF money splashing and splurging all over the place. A new version of the ‘Short Term Work Experience Program’ or the ‘YES Program’. Some land give-outs; some houses; some jobs at Customs and elsewhere in the public service, even temporary ones; a national or other award or other form of recognition; a trip here or there; a scholarship for a child; a high-energy, entertainment and hype-based election campaign; and a new, false ‘feel-good’ mood.
Some people will be fooled by these things, while others, though not fooled, might simply accept the goodies, abandon their consciences, and return the favour with a vote. I’m sure you know one or two like that.
What could also help him get returned as Prime Minister would be electoral shenanigans (the recent ones in Nevis representing a wanton, appalling and lawless leap to the outer limits of egregiousness), or a dismal failure by the opposition to assert and cement its own credibility as a viable, perhaps even necessary, alternative. And by ”opposition”, I’m not referring only to political parties, but also to individuals and other non-party alliances who’re disgusted with, and opposed to, what’s happening in and to our country at this time, and who’re committed to ‘Country Above Self’.
As things stand, the odds are stacked up against Dr. Douglas, and they may well remain that way, or even get worse for him. Because he seems determined to continue with his callous, arrogant and irresponsible attitude, and his reckless, deceitful and disrespectful conduct. And for that, the people of this country, for their own good, need to exact a heavy toll on him. For all of the bad that he has brought upon them, they need to put him behind them.
Let’s look at some of the elements that are in play against him.
Firstly, his Party won’t and can’t go into the next elections as is. There will be personnel changes, and that alone will be the source of further internal disaffection, disruption and dislocation.
Secondly, he has hurt, and continues to hurt, many, many people.
Thirdly, while he might win back some support, there’s very little he can do to win back broad-based credibility and respect. And the dwindling diehards, the sycophants, and the cynics won’t be enough to save him. Indeed, a number of them are already waking up and smelling the coffee, and very discreetly preparing themselves for his departure.
Fourthly, the fiscal and economic calamity that’s bedevilling our nation has plunged too many people and too many businesses into survival and desperation mode (and those are the luckier ones); and it won’t end any time soon.
In this regard, did you hear the presentation of Nevis’ Financial Secretary, Mr. Laurie Lawrence, at Monday’s Symposium on The Economy held at the Marriot Hotel?
He told the gathering: that Nevis is broke; that its revenue is barely sufficient to pay salaries and wages and the Nevis Island Administration’s debt obligations; that there’s no money for capital development; and that after the ‘haircut’ given to creditors, the NIA will have a problem raising loans. So he called for the SIDF to urgently inject capital into Nevis.
He graphically articulated the present Catch-22 situation, with the Federal Government and the NIA being cash-strapped, exacting heavy taxes on the populace (and thereby inhibiting spending and investment), and having little or no money to spur substantial economic growth, and with the need to design an investment concessions program in a circumstance which, under IMF supervision, isn’t fond of tax and other concessions.
And, to make matters worse, he claimed that there’s too much politics in appointments to Government boards, and a lot of corruption in relation to procurements by the NIA.
So strong were Mr. Lawrence’s words that I wondered, whether, in the present circumstances, he might prefer that the accounts of both the Federal Government and the NIA be subjected to external audits.
The man described a veritable economic, fiscal, administrative and moral calamity.
But as if this bracing dose of harsh reality and honesty was too much for his liking, the Prime Minister came up with a sophomoric attempt to deceive, and claimed that the debt-to-GDP ratio could soon fall below100%, after having soared to 200%.
This callous and cruel comment is based heavily on the Government’s billion dollar debt to the National Bank being removed from the books through the land-for-debt swap. But that is nothing to boast about.
Because perhaps more than anything else, this whole swap story represents the most villainous, treacherous and disgraceful violation perpetrated against the people of this country in modern times.
Any way it goes, the people will lose. And their loss will be unprecedented, historic and mammoth.
Here are the alternatives:
(i) If the lands are sold off to foreigners en masse in order to relieve the Bank of its still existing heavy burden, then the people will be robbed of their most vital material asset, the land.
(ii) If, on the other hand, land sales are sluggish and the Bank, with hundreds of millions of Social Security Board dollars in it, is exposed to increased risk, then the people’s second and third most vital material assets, namely, those two institutions, could take a fatal nose dive.
The Bank may one day regret agreeing to swap land for debt. The people of this country surely will.
Maybe the Prime Minister believes that he can throw the Bank, and the Social Security Board under the bus and still remain on his feet.
But the people are seeing the light. So say the poll results.
We’ve had the poll, and now he must pay his toll.
After all, how much suffering can one man be allowed to inflict on a whole nation?!
