“Breathes there the man with soul so dead
Who never to himself hath said
This is my own, my native land”.
The author of these powerful words, 19th century novelist, playwright and poet, Walter Scott, loved and honored his native land, Scotland, with all of his heart and soul.
“This is my own, my native land”.
Repeat these seven words aloud, again and again. Listen to yourselves. And think of our nation. This includes those of you who aren’t native born but who’ve adopted St. Kitts & Nevis as your home, or just have a soft spot for us.
And as you listen and think, if you feel a powerful stirring and love for this land coming from deep within you, and a burning desire to make it a better place, then that’s your souls right there. So your souls aren’t dead, thank God.
But feeling and the desire aren’t sufficient to keep a soul alive. Action is required.
And for advice on that action, you need go no further than our own National Anthem, written by music maestro and producer, Kenrick Georges. Among other things, it says:
“ Thy children stand free, on the strength of will and love…”
“A nation bound together, with a common destiny…”
“As stalwarts we stand, for justice and liberty…” and
“With wisdom and truth, we will serve and honor thee…”.
Our National Anthem urges us to be stalwarts, sturdy and robust, free from fear or favor, strengthened by the will to keep right what’s right and to make right what’s wrong; to take a stand in the cause of freedom, justice and liberty; to seek, and speak, wisdom and truth; to speak truth to power; and to do these things as one people, bound together in unity under God, with love and with a common destiny, as we serve and honor our native land.
Our National Anthem is a call to arms, a battle cry, and a rallying call for all patriots and lovers of democracy and unity.
And to be true patriots, we must never confuse the leader or the Government with our country, and we must always demonstrate our loyalty to our country and our loyalty to the leader and Government only when they deserve it.
And right now they don’t deserve it.
In fact, both the leader and his Government are illegitimate. And here’s why.
Under our Constitution, the people get a chance once every five years or so to elect eleven Representatives to the National Assembly.
But as soon as their votes are counted, their work in this regard is done. They don’t even decide who is to be the Prime Minister. And they don’t decide, until the next election, whether or not the Government stands or falls.
Those critical decisions are made by the Representatives, or by a majority of them. So says the Constitution.
For example, Section 52(2) states that “whenever the Governor-General has occasion to appoint a Prime Minister, he shall appoint a Representative who appears to him likely to command the support of the majority of the Representatives”.
And while the Governor-General is entitled under Section 52(10) to make this decision acting in his own deliberate judgment, it is from his assessment of the support of the Representatives, not the support of the voters, that he must form his own deliberate judgment.
Further, Section 52(6) commands the Governor-General to remove the Prime Minister if, within three days of a successful motion of no confidence, the Prime Minister does not either resign or advise the Governor-General to dissolve the National Assembly.
And how does a motion of no confidence succeed? Not by a vote of the people, but by, and only by, a vote of the majority of the Representatives.
So under our Constitution, the will of our Representatives between elections is as important as, and equal to, the will of the people in elections.
And if the Representatives can bring down the Government, then the Constitution does not have to provide a deadline for the hearing of a motion of no confidence. The Constitution already presumes the urgency of the matter.
For example, there’s no such deadline in the United Kingdom, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados or Grenada. Yet motions of no confidence were debated in those countries within days after notice had been served.
The Governments of those countries, aware and respectful of their constitutional and moral duty to accommodate the motion in an expeditious manner, very aware of the potential damage to the country if the motion is delayed, or, worse, ignored, and most acutely aware of the wrath of voters, have all held debates within days, or at most, a couple of weeks, of the notice.
With the notice filed since December 11, 2012, there should’ve been, in accordance with the Constitution, an election since March, 2013. But we’re fast approaching July 10, 2013, and still no election.
The leader and the Government are illegitimate. They’re a bunch of anti-constitution, anti-democracy cowards and cheats.
When the people are robbed of their chance to express themselves freely and fairly at an election, as happened in this country on January 25,2010, and when thereafter, to add insult to injury, their Representatives are robbed, for seven long months, of their opportunity and their constitutional right and authority, and their sacred duty, to express themselves on a critically important matter like a motion of no confidence, then it’s time for Patriots to be Patriots, and to answer the call of our National Anthem.
When the leader not only ignores repeated cautions over the years as to the danger of the Government’s mushrooming debt, but he dismisses, scoffs at, and mocks the cautioners by uttering comments such as “national debt, me ass, and “I would do the same thing all over again”, then it’s time for Patriots to be Patriots.
And in any case, when the leader over the years utters, as a matter of course, all manner of crude, lewd, vulgar, indecent and abusive remarks, bringing embarrassment and shame to an entire nation, then it’s time for Patriots to be Patriots.
And when, by 2006, about 4,700 acres of the people’s land (that’s nearly 8 square miles of St. Kitts) ended up mortgaged to the National Bank for the Government’s $900 million debt to the Bank; when the Bank is setting up to sell whatever amount it needs to sell in order to bring down that debt, not a penny of which has been paid to date; and when natives of the Federation will not be in a position to buy significant portions of the land so that they’re now witnessing the cruel and callous reversal of the process, started by Bradshaw, of acquiring the land for its historically landless and disenfranchised people, then it’s time for Patriots to be Patriots.
When the leader sets up a ‘private’ slush fund called the SIDF so that massive amounts of cash can avoid the scrutiny of the Government’s creditors and of the Director of Audit; when that money can be used to bring down the Government’s debt to the Bank (and other creditors) and so save the lands from being alienated from the people, but instead the leader is willfully and deliberately refusing to use it for that purpose, then it’s time for Patriots to be Patriots.
The Americans have a song entitled “This Land is My Land’, and the Jews also have one which has the words, ‘This land is mine, God gave this Land to me’. Americans, Jews, and the other peoples of the world fight, live and die for their land. And their leaders are at the forefront of that fight. But the leader of St. Kitts & Nevis has robbed Kittitians and Nevisians of their land. And laughs at us and our Representatives as he does so.
Patriots, oh Patriots, where are you?
For 18 years, this country has been under the leadership of a medical doctor, with a second medical doctor in the Cabinet. Yet, on the evidence of credible and reputable practising doctors, we are now being told that St. Kitts & Nevis has the highest cervical cancer, and the second highest prostate cancer, rate in the world, a situation which, the doctors say, could have been avoided.
How many of our mothers, sisters, sisters, brothers, daughters and sons have died who could’ve been saved, had there been the leadership for better lifestyles and better institutional procedures to manage and prevent this massacre? How many families have been wiped out financially in an effort to save their loved ones? And how many millions of dollars have generous people in the community contributed to these private efforts to save lives?
Patriots, oh Patriots, where are you?
Corruption in Government stinks to high Heaven in this land. Corruption not only brings shame to a nation, it also stifles productivity, and it’s very costly to the economy.
So the people suffer immensely anyway.
Where are the Patriots?
We now have the police and other security forces being used as political weapons against the people, to intimidate, and to deprive the people of their constitutional and human right of expression, association and movement.
Our National Anthem is calling on us to break free and to stand free; to stand for justice and for liberty, on the strength of will and love for native land and for each other; to bind ourselves together in unity as sons and daughters of St. Kitts & Nevis; to preserve the legacy of our forbears; and, more importantly, to assure and preserve democracy and dignity for our children and future generations.
It also tells us that “no sword nor spear can conquer” us, “for God will sure defend” us, and that “His blessings shall forever, to posterity extend”.
Patriots, oh Patriots.
Family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
