The Tucker Law: achievements, non-achievements, pseudo-achievements and bluffs

On the HTS News Friday (Jan 21, 2011), Bruce Dwayne Tucker asserted that he was running the next elections on the record of his achievements. You did not have to be an expert in psychology to recognize the diffidence which underlay the anger and aggression in that pronouncement. In that same HTS newscast, he also made reference to the controversial Baywalk issue which saturated the nation airwaves until Hurricane Tomas seemingly blew it away!

Undiplomatic practices

One of the foreign minister’s arguments for deserting the NIC office in favour of Baywalk was invariably his concern for his staff which he claimed could not function optimally in a restraining environment. But a question of equal import which many political observers are asking is: Can tucker himself function optimally in an aggressive and angry frame of mind in a position such as Foreign Minister which requires level-headed-ness, tact and diplomacy?

For some time now, the minister has been publicly displaying behaviours which suggest serious personality aberrations and which raise questions about his ability to function in his post as foreign minister. Not only does he come across as a highly disturbed individual to the point where his composure and faculties elude him; but equally his day-to-day actions actually confirm our worst fears. The undiplomatic practices such as illegally “appropriating” gifts and monies derived from his missions overseas to so-called Village Council accounts to which he is a signatory is a case in point.

Illusions of achievement

At the constituency level, the Minister seems to have earned the unenviable distinction of having a record number of enemies in the very constituency that he represents in parliament. I’m sure St. Lucians remember the altercation with his constituent which took place on November 24, 2010 as a result of his uncontrolled anger! Even more disingenuous is the claim of a record of achievements as his main platform for seeking re-election. Arguably, there may have been improvements in Choiseul; but the reality is they comprise either low- or no-impact projects that are so small that when you compare them to the magnitude of the problems we face, they mean nothing. That is why I will refer to them as pseudo-achievements in an ultra-expansive constituency with serious development challenges spanning from Delcer in the West to Saltibus in the East.

The incontrovertible fact is most of the 17 ridges that make up the landscape of constituency have been untouched by Tucker’s delusive, invisible and promised achievements. He certainly needs to remove his fantasy glasses and take a realistic look.

Tucker's illusions of achievement are inevitable. He bluffed himself in believing that he could bluff the constituents in that regard. Indeed unhampered in a political vacuum for most of the “quinquennium” trying to perfect the art of quionnen (bluff) on the constituents, he reached an inflated confidence level which he took for granted. It also appears that the consultant hacks around him were equally trapped in that delusion and never gave him quality and critical support, instead choosing to leech around at any cost for their pound of flesh in the Ti Canal interventions.

Choiseul on the Move?

Tucker’s Choiseul-on-the-move Blog has been very liberal with the truth for painting a picture of an extreme hyperbole of achievements. According to the blog, those included, in order of magnitude, “major road projects, drainage works, footpaths, driveways, bus shelters”.

It is clear that the claims of achievement have been nothing more than mind-bending fabrications designed to deceive for electoral purposes. Indeed, that strategy is already in operation where people in the West are being hoodwinked about the Bousquet’s outstanding achievements of in the East; and vice versa. Unsuspecting and gullible supporters take these fabrications at face value and even peddle them moronically. That’s the extent of brainwashing that dishonest and ruthless politicians and their desperate Public Relations machinery are comfortable with. And we understand why rural ignorance is a great political asset for politicians without a conscience.

In part 2, we will be looking at St. Lucia’s newest law referred to as the “Tucker Law” and relate it to Tucker’s achievements vs Fergy’s achievements. Stay tuned to the Powerhouse!