“O God of battles! Steel my soldiers’ hearts; possess them not with fear; take from them now the sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers pluck their hearts from them.” The country and its integrity is beyond siege. Who shall rescue? Who shall mount to the challenge? Who shall defy the odds of reckoning with confidence to act and confidence in its benediction?
The recent maneuvers of the Prime Minister in pursuing with haste his agenda to effect a majority vote in Parliament despite the pending Motion of No Confidence begs the question, what’s the point? Months ago, the Prime Minster had several options. Belligerently pursuing his parliamentary majority agenda only showed his contempt for the Motion. He’s now left with only one option, dissolving the Parliament and fresh elections. The State now plunges into a political crisis for the ensuing period with a cloud over the integrity of the system and parliamentary procedures. Now, the challenge for the Representatives in opposition is to compel DD The Great to either respect Parliamentary procedures or dissolve Parliament and call a fresh election. The No Confidence Notice served on the Governor General by Brantley and others sets out a challenge and its subsequent consequences. The Parliamentary Vote now only serves to confirm what already is a fact: Denzil Douglas does not have the constitutional support to be Prime Minister and to govern the State.
It takes fortitude and determination to embark upon certain challenges in life. One must have confidence in his or her beliefs and in the consequences of his or her pursuits if there is to be any change. Hugo Chavez had such. I recall in 1987 when I lost all my interests in St. Kitts by Parliamentary and Executive action of the former administration that I had to decide which course would bring the best remedy. At that time, with little confidence in a judicial pursuit and no lawyer willing to take the challenge, I decided politics only gets resolved with politics. So, I set out to bring down the Administration at all costs. I learnt in later years during my pursuit for justice that it was an appointed Minister in the former Administration who was largely responsible for moving the government against my rightful interests. The first part of my plan was to help establish an Opposition in Nevis, now called The Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM). I had believed if CCM could not win the local election in 1988, within five years there would be no winners in the Federal Elections, putting CCM in a pivotal position to guide and control the future developments in the Federation. In November 1988, at Vance Amory’s dinner table, I counseled him on my belief and told him to be ready for the awakening. I was right. That awakening came in 1993 and I reminded Amory of my prediction. CCM did not rise to the challenges to take the helm. That decision left much controversy until today.
I was not particularly seeking vengeance when I journey to Nevis in 1987, though vengeance can be sweet at times. I was seeking to establish a new dispensation as a founding member of CCM and as its political adviser. I had journeyed through the islands for one year, from 1987 to 1988, after the adverse action of the St. Kitts Administration to determine if my case was just particular to me and discovered, from island to island, some of the same circumstances.
Callous abuse of executive and parliamentary power hammered onto citizens for political or private gain. I recall a case in St. Lucia, where I visited with an old creole woman walking the streets as a beggar because she was allegedly cheated out of an inheritance to a large estate which now holds one of its largest marinas. The developers gave her breakfast every morning as she footed past their café, perhaps in guilt. It was pitiful. She cried as she told me her story. No lawyer would dare to take on the establishment in her case. I decided in this new movement of CCM I would encourage the members to sign on to a “Bill of Principles” which I styled somewhat like the “Bill of Rights” under the Constitution of the United States of America. All the CCM executive members consented. Nevis at that time was politically amuck like the other islands. My misfortunes could never have occurred if these Principles, which were just an expansion of the Fundamental provisions of the St. Kitts-Nevis Constitution, were respected and implemented. I did not look for myself but for the benefit of everyone. Such vision was one of the primary reasons I pursued my landmark case in court against the Government of St. Kitts on the West Farm acquisition and won. The new dispensation I wanted to bring about was articulated in a Blue Paper I wrote for CCM to infect a change of political culture and awareness in the Caribbean. If we succeeded in the 1988 elections, we could then carry it to St. Kitts in 1993. My ambitions were dashed after the ’88 elections when some in its Executive concluded the old modus of politics was the way to win and keep control. Here we are again.
In the 1989 elections, I fired the second salvo at the P.A.M Administration with the Powel medicine, carefully packaged. I had no beef with Powel. Just politics; evidenced to that we are better friends now than then. The shot did not take immediate effect but I knew the lion will have to rest not much longer thereafter. It softened the opportunity for CCM in 1993. I had also thought if I had succeeded with Labour in 1989, I would have an opportunity with Lee Moore to bring about a change, which he persuaded me that he was disposed to undertake to leave a new legacy. We won the war but lost the battle. The option then was to wait for 1993 for CCM to take up the challenge. They did not. I waited for 1995.
When the Labour Party won in 1995, I thought that Lee More and I could bring about some of these changes mentioned above and a new dispensation to Fundamental rights and freedoms, with legal courage to bring teeth to these matters. I articulated in 1996 a new economic charter for the Caribbean in a White Paper I presented to Prime Minister Douglas on geo-political and geo-economic positioning in the new world order. I quickly discovered Mr. Moore and I were on the outside fighting in. Lee Moore was double-dealed from the leadership to the extent he remarked one day to me, credibility was not what the leadership of the Administration was concerned about only in what it received. Mr. Moore supported my property claim in West Farm, but when the going got rough, to avoid a conflict of interest, he advised me to secure Anthony Gonslaves to pursue my case. Sir Lee and I wanted to pursue some ideas I had presented for a new diplomatic apparatus, particularly in the Far East. When Sir Lee died, all hopes for the new dispensation went along with him. If I believed as in 1987, that taking on DD The Great at the turn of the century would bring about a better dispensation, I would have done so. The Opposition was not ready and the credible messengers were no where to be found. So, I’ve remained silent until now. Two political shots have been fired at DD The Great. Both telegraphed. The Third, yet to come, will not be telegraphed and will finish the job. The moment of opportunity is once more at hand!
Brantley has now declared to the World on his behalf and that of the majority members of the Federal Parliament their opposition to Douglas as Prime Minister and the governance of his Administration. The Parliamentarians must similarly make sure what I made happen to the former Administration in 1989: the Declaration must arrive at every foreign mission with which DD The Great has a relationship. Whether he heeds to the procedural demands for the immediate debate of the Motion will not negate the reality that he does not have the moral or constitutional authority to govern and any protraction will bring pressure to bear from all corners for fresh elections within the next 4 months. Interesting, it took a Nevis Federal Parliamentarian to have the courage to take this bold initiative on the No Confidence Vote. Nevisians seem to have a sense of focus, fortitude and determination that is not so prevalent in St. Kitts. In addition, money does not seem to have the currency in their elections as in St. Kitts.
What will now change if these Parliamentarians of the No Confidence Declaration were to be elected to Parliament again? They must now define why their re-election will produce a departure from the past. As I mentioned in the foregoing, the messengers must be credible. There is an opportunity to elect one in East Basseterre, who’s not tainted or controlled by past influences, independent to steer the ship beyond the waves. There is an opportunity for the Declaratory Candidates to establish their charter that would persuade the public their commitment to a new dispensation. A change of Prime Minister and personalities is not the only remedy; it is necessary but not sufficient. What can make a difference is their binding to be CASP-PERS of the society; Citizens above self for the People and the Best Interest of the Public! A new public charter to bring teeth and respect to the Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of the constitution, barring discrimination on political affiliation; the right to just and swift compensation for the taking of property (interpreted in its broadest sense); equality before the law, protection of the law and application of the law; and the right to pursue one’s happiness even when it is not in the political interest of the politician. Do the Candidates have the courage for this challenge and to pursue it with confidence? Astaphan, Condor and Harris had the courage to eventually step out. Condor has been a loyal and sincere friend to me; I can vouch for him. I’m ready to do my part from afar, but not to engage just to change chairs at the table. I cannot abandon my navel strings as I travel around the world. What happens in St. Kitts to some extent influences the opinion of others about me who may not know me.
CASP-PERS, come forth! The moment of truth and direction has come for your country. You can infect the entire English speaking Caribbean. It’s the opportunity to bring about a new Dawn for the Caribbean by charting a new dispensation for public integrity, respect for the judicial process, parliamentary conduct and procedure, as well as protection of certain fundamental rights, freedoms and privileges. Everyone should have a fair chance at the pie to pursue their happiness without fear from political discrimination and intimidation by politicians. To all I say, particularly the electoral candidates and the young people: Think not what your country has failed you, but what you can do to fill your country! Like the great English King Henry V, look to the moment of challenge with courage and confidence in the Benediction.
“..It yearns me not if men my garments wear; such outward things dwell not in my desires; But if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive…”! Ride on!
