“Oh, for the winds of fire A kingdom to act at such a trying time …”. One now looks for a “Henry” at large to take this small island State to battle to restore its reputation, integrity and promise. Yes, “Henry”, not Macbeth. These are trying times in which even the local Macbeth in St. Kitts must transform himself to fill the voids of the State if there is to be any promise of the future. A country once torn in a bitter political divide, now stretched to its limits in life and death over politics. Political parties galvanizing their supporters to wage economic war giving rise to bitter spite, malice and infringement on all natural rights.
The question at large is how can the Douglas government survive with just 5 of 11 elected members of a Parliament who are apparently supporting him as head of State; and more importantly what comes after DD The Great. Douglas claims he does not have a minority government. Sure, 4+1 = 6. I’d not like to be administered drugs by such a physician. It’s absurd and preposterous. How can someone vex the courts for the next 5 years with the appointment of a Senator that gives rise to the constitutional validity just to play for time to the next general election and carry on his business as usual, hoping to see public opinion turn in his favour? I’ve seen many physicians as patients in psychiatric wards of hospitals. Perhaps the Eastern Caribbean is about to see its first. “I can sell you anytime!” Nurse, the patient needs some shock treatment; get the public electro cart ready please.
Those who are worrying about the Party affiliation or philosophical convictions of the recent outcast from Douglas Labour need not worry. The political label of Sam Condor and Timothy Harris and any new opposition candidate for East Basseterre can be rested until the Parliament is dissolved. The public need not worry about them being turncoats to be PAM because it’s almost impossible for a turncoat to win an election in small island politics. But many who have jumped ship and ran as Independents, unopposed by the official Opposition, have won their seats in recent times. The last Federal Elections in Trinidad is a guide. The UNC could not defeat the PNM in some constituencies but recognized an independent candidate could do so with UNC’s tacit support. As a result, it allowed some independents, running under a C.O.P label, to challenge those particular seats. C.O.P won in many cases. Why would it be any different in St. Kitts?
It was the night after the 1989 General Elections in the Federation. I had just finished campaigning with the Labour Party as an Independent who called himself a “Citizen for a Better Country”. I was one of Labour’s platform speakers. The crowds got bigger and bigger. I enjoyed it very much, particularly with Lee Moore. He and I had such synergy and energy in our back to back advocacy. My thrust was, “For you are Labour and Labour is You.” The core of the Advocacy group were Lee Moore, Sam Condor, Errol Maynard, Henry Browne and myself. We lost the battle but won the war. It would take less than five years for Labour to reap the spoils. There was no Douglas around in our campaign though he was on the Labour ticket for St. Paul’s. He was practically invisible in the Campaign, waiting for Lee Moore to fail in his last quest to be Prime Minister so he Douglas could take over. Take over he did and transformed the St. Kitts-
Nevis Labour Party to the Douglas Labour Party. The sheer “bones” of the Party was made to be of Douglas himself by putting in place all his cronies in decision making positions. I had stayed at the home of the Byrons and Sam Condor after the Elections and in the middle of the night I heard someone on a loud speaker outside their home shouting, “Labour Dawg, come out negh? You fraid? Come out leah me show you wah I will do wid you?” I asked the Byrons and Condor the next day if that was the nature of things in St. Kitts after elections and who was the person shouting outside. I was appalled to know who that businessman was and that elections had dropped to such a low level. Intimidation? Well, well. Over the expression of your natural rights to vote your choice? Now, marathon Labour advocates like Condor and newly visionaries like Harris are outcasts because they publicly expressed the choice of conscience and integrity, spoiling their colour to make up the “bones” of Douglas’ ambitions.
It was 1984, elections hotly contested by P.A.M to win a majority in St. Kitts to avoid the Nevis coalition. Dr. Herbert and I collaborated on P.A.M’s strategy and its house to house campaign. He was always interested in my political opinion as a side line observer. I liked Billy and miss him. I remembered in the 1960’s Pamites being called by Labour, “Happy Puppy”. They were coined the mouth pieces of the “Plantocracy”, then characterized in so many words as a “Remtocracy” with a “Benetocracy.” Heated rhetoric came forth from the Labour platform about those who sided with the sugar planters and their class to suppress the rights of the masses. The race colour and class had to be right for Labour. A “class” against a “workers force” was the long battle for decades.
Victimization and threats at some Pamites. I remembered the turning point of the 1984 campaign. Dr. Herbert came to me and said to me in his office, “I think we’re in trouble; we need a push ..”. I gave him my views on Kennedy and he agreed. He replied, “Kennedy had to be stronger and pick this tempo up like a strong man.. He got to make people feel like he got it …” I agreed. I saw the turning point in the campaign at Manchester Avenue when he announced he’d fire the person from CEMACO. The Great Michael Oliver Powell topped it off when he suddenly returned after being written off by Labour to be dying. Mike came forth with his juicy rhetoric and in the end at Greenlands PAM topped off its campaign. “Sweep them out!”, that was Billy’s phrase. P.A.M won, 6 of 11 seats; no need for the Nevis formula any more. But the over-confidence did them in. The same arrogance, cronyism and authoritarianism now prevailing with Douglas led P.A.M down a slippery slope. The center attacked its own, just as it is with Douglas; and the end slowly begun.
Now we have a troop within P.A.M with not much political capacity, little political skills and resources vying to get back into the Government. The “class” still can’t fight the “workers” and the common man. The contrast played well for Douglas who exploited it to another level. Divide and rule. P.A.M had it; we did not; now we must take it or you all ain’t gonna have nutten. He even managed to hook someone from the Remtocracy in Skerritt to silence the wheels of the engine of P.A.M against him. Now P.A.M must transform to win. It had a good message of opportunity to build a successful middle class, but lost focus after 1986.
I recalled in 1987 when I journeyed to Nevis to help create a new political dimension now called CCM. As a founding member and its political advisor, I drafted their first Blue Paper in which I articulated a “Bill of Principles” to depart from personality politics. I thought this could be a vehicle to bring about change in the Federation. I failed. They defaulted to the old political habits. NRP was the same. I said in the last General Election that Douglas was not the Messiah. It was better for the country to have no clear winner to force all sides to come together. Look now at the end result of the Douglas victory.
The political fabric has been stretched to its limits, Pole to Pole, Party to Party in a battle for fairness for their tribes. At first, the enemy was the colonial power. They got rid of it, but in the process something flawed came about. A constitution that favoured P.A.M to be in power longer than Labour. Someone miscalculated the vortex of political dynamics that there is no political constant. Political answers can shift from time to time pending on the velocity and magnitude of human feelings and perceptions. In 1995, Labour figured out how to win without Nevis. Who would have thought that possible in 1983? P.A.M vs Labour as a way of life and political survival has become an anachronism. There is a new generation who knew nothing of the struggles pre and post Independence. They are seeking a future in a level playing field. The paradox of the Douglas legacy is that in an effort to drive his will onto everyone, creating a bitter divide more so than in Bradshaw’s time, he has created an opportunity for the diametric forces to come together as one, not just to be rid of him, but to craft a unity of purpose, free and fair for all. Something better must rise from the imploding dust of DD The Great. The only available guide is in the instrument of the Constitution.
The new dispensation is clearly set forth in the declaration of Independence in the Constitution: “Whereas the people of Saint Christopher and Nevis (e) are committed to achieve their national objective with a unity of purpose.” What was that objective Labour fought for against the colonial power? What was the objective P.A.M fought for against Labour? What was it that caused the fallout out and demise of the former P.A.M administration? What was it that caused the current cascading popularity and favor of the Douglas government? The same rudiment: failure to look to and respect an objective, fair and equal standard for all the citizens of the State; and to develop a uniform rule that would allow every man an opportunity to pursue his freedom to build a better future for himself without political preferences or victimization. But these principles were clearly expressed in the Constitution. The fundamental right provisions said it all: Equality before the law (no perversion of the legal process or interference to favour anyone) and protection of the law (when aggrieved the law must protect you, not the politician); freedom of conscience of expression and of assembly and association (no victimization); protection from deprivation of property (in its broadest sense even on your pension and jour job) without compensation (the compensation must be swift, not protracted by the politicians to favor their political purpose); and protection from discrimination (even barring political discrimination should be enforced). If just these elements were to be given some teeth and respect, the country would have a stable, respectable and prosperous future for all. Can anyone now bury the political hatchets and craft this new dispensation? Can the youth in post Independence see light in the unity of purpose to graft a thrust from the tribal confines that demand a new dispensation? If these bundle of rights were to be protected sacrosanct, the country would enjoy a stability and prosperity to rival the neighbouring Dutch and French territories. The confidence in the purity of the legal process and in securing rights over the politicians in these Territories are in large part contributing to the stability and fluidity of their economies.
The time has come to look to the promise of the future in this new dispensation and not to the divide of the past. Let us go forth in peace for those fundamental principles outlined herein to
love and serve your country. Citizens Above Self, for the people and the public’s best interest, whether P.A.M, or Labour, or independent, the future is yours! To succeed, never pray for feathers, pray for long life!
