"Kenny
is King; Chastanet wants to be King; but King would have none of it!"
This is an "imperfect article" comprising my raw and perhaps illogical thoughts (perhaps, in raw language) about the "leadership imperfections" plaguing the UWP. Some take joy from it; some are embarrassed by it; some are stunned by it! Some even claimed that they had predicted it! How anyone looks at it is perhaps dependent on his/her "political frame of reference". The POWERHOUSE opinion is simple: it is good for democracy! If the raison d'etre of political parties is to seek to govern a country, then they cannot behave like underground, "freemason societies". In that sense, the playing of what's happening to the UWP (at least, some of it) in the public domain should not necessarily be seen in a purely "negative term of reference". It's our right to know and to have a voice on what is inside a party, especially which has been in government for a number of years and may well be the next potential government of St. Lucia again. It is against this background that I have constructed my thoughts and have choosen to share them with you.
Soldiers vs
hacks
Geographically, St. Vincent is St. Lucia’s closest
OECS neighbour; but, politically, they maybe the furthest apart. While in St.
Vincent, the Opposition Leader claims it was “unacceptable” that his party were
excluded from an emergency disaster response (EDR) meeting, in St. Lucia, the
opposition is “hard heels of an apparent meltdown” over the attendance of our
opposition leader at such a meeting.
No matter how facetious it may sound, St. Vincent’s
Prime Minister’s response to the opposition is not only a “master shot” but it
is instructive: the country was in a war with nature and “soldiers don’t wait
for an invitation to join the war; soldiers report for duty.”
In St. Lucia, UWP soldiers instead of reporting for
duty were fighting among themselves over the attendance of the Leader of the
Opposition to a meeting with the PM to discuss EDR.
The
UWP literally flayed King for “reporting for duty”; but King may be a smart kid
with the wisdom of his own precedent when he invited Kenny to report to duty
during Tomas. Perhaps, Kenny might have
been guided by that precedent.
Is it a Tantalus story?
Perhaps
Chastanet’s “reflect action” response to King’s “autonomous” participation in an
EDR meeting may be a broader issue than we may have ever contemplated.
There
is a school of thought that the sale of the Chastanet’s economic dynasty to
Neal and Massy is linked to the preparation of Allen for the prime ministership
of St. Lucia which (based on the economic tatters we are now in) seemed
imminently possible; but King’s increased “affirmative action” is seen as a
major stumbling block and it is beginning to look like Allen’s fortunes in that
regard may have hit an unlikely speed bump and hence his pursuit of that “fruit”
may have been sincerely intercepted, if not stalled.
In
that sense, Allen may now be compared to Tantalus who sees the prime
ministerial fruit hanging mere millimeters away from his power-hungry grasp but
despite his overwhelming hunger, that fruit continues to tantalize and elude
him.
Apparently,
Chastanet's overwhelming hunger for the prime-ministership is balanced by an
equal and opposite overwhelming disenchantment among a vociferous UWP crew in
the diaspora.
In
short, Chastanet may have won the battle for delegates; but now he has to win
the internecine war within the party and ultimately electoral victory. The
orchestrated euphoria at the convention has apparently been melted away by the
heat of the war and washed out by a huge tide of disenchantment.
Goliath meets the Colossus
There’s
a view that the ongoing battle between the two “Titanic” UWP leaders blatantly
exposes the reliability of the convention results; the view goes further with
the assumption while support within the “UWP community” for Chastanet is
vociferous, it is far more numerous for King. The general result is an
increasingly growing confidence of the latter - and more and more the Leader of
Her Majesty's Opposition (LOO) is beginning to look like the de facto and natural UWP leader. A
further view is: although the King is longer prime minister, he, in the prevailing
circumstances, looks far more prime ministerial (in word, deed or thought) than
Chastanet who seeking to “displace” him.
But
the complexity of the internecine war happening within the Flambeau party goes
far beyond the battle between King and Chastanet and the pontifications of the
vociferous pro-Chastanet faction and their bland “Jook Bois” PR which are only
increasing the magnitude of the collateral damage.
As
was the case during reign of the Vaughan Lewis, the UWP again has two leaders.
After Vaughn lost the 1997 elections, Sir John came out of retirement and
“retook the leadership” and (as he had done in 1982), he returned the UWP to
power in 2006. This time around the configuration is different but the
storyline is the same: two leaders (namely “LOO”
and a Party leader (PL) with their respective camps)
juggling for power.
Let’s
briefly turn our attention to the rationalization of the tension between the
camps.
The
pro-Chastanet rationalization of the tension between the two camps emanate from
the LOO’s failure to succumb to the PL. That rationalization may well be a
battle-weary indication, if not an open admission, of the extent of Chastanet's
impotence as PL or equally of the
extent of the “omnipotence” of the LOO within
the UWP Empire.
The
omnipotence of the LOO with the UWP
Empire is a compelling argument in favour King. As LOO, does he really have to succumb to the PL, especially in the context of the St. Lucia constitution which is
officially silent on recognition of the latter? Further, why did that dichotomy
apparently worked so well for the SLP (during Kenny and Louisy) and why isn’t it
working for the UWP under the leadership of Chastanet? Did the SLP have a
policy of “separation of powers” which allowed the LOO to fulfill his constitutional function with autonomy, independence
and integrity? Before the Chastanet faction went to work on King, it should
have done its necessary research on the antecedents and weigh the "pros
and cons" consequent.
Goliath vs the Colossus
If
the electoral contest between Dalson and Chastanet was seen as a battle between
David and Goliath, then the leadership struggle between King and Chastanet must
be seen as a battle between Goliath and the Colossus with each is wearing his
own crown; but despite losing the “political leader” crown, it looks like the Colossus
(perhaps having taken a page from David's Book on how to slaughter Goliaths) is
rapidly closing in on an unlikely victory; but despite the imminent possibility
of Chastanet’s doom, the little victims like Arsene laugh at their fate.
Does Goliath lie so low?
The
ongoing battle between Goliath and the Colossus has left many of us dumbfounded!
After such an impressive first knockout round, how could Goliath who is endowed
with all his faculties of brilliance allow the Colossus with a corresponding deficiency
of those faculties make him “lie so low”?
Paradoxically,
it must have been that impressive first knockout punch that paved the way for
his downfall. As the UWP “FACTORS” suggested in their missive to the PL, the answer must have been in the PL’s convention game plan which must
have been based on a case of mistaken identity. Because “Kenny is King”, the radioactive
knock-out punch was probably designed for Kenny but thrown at King by mistake,
resulting in irreversible internal division and bitterness within the UWP
empire.
But
like the Phoenix from the Ashes, the Colossus and his protective belt of
underground soldiers miraculously rose again; no doubt, Tucker and the Lion
Heart were/are the field marshals; and with them around, it won’t be a walkover
the Colossus.
What
is currently happening to the UWP is not without precedent in St. Lucia! During
Compton’s reign, the SLP crumbled under its own anomalies until Kenny ushered
in an era of rock-solid stability. Which new Flambeau leader will emerge to
remove Flambeau from the doldrums? Chastanet has yet to demonstrate that he is
that leader. If anything, he seems to have captained the UWP Titanic closer to
the iceberg of political destruction than King ever did.
It
is evident the Flambeau fracas has an irreversible fatal tone. The normally minor
post-convention political cracks seemed to have become a major geological “strike-slip
fault” and it does seem to represent a precursor to an imminent major 10.1 political
earthquake coming UWP way.
If
this were to happen, then does the party hierarchy have the requisite tension
and compression to withstand the earthquake? If it does, then it surely would
have passed a major structural litmus test. The question is: what would be
equivalent to a “pass”? Would it be the removal of King as LOO?
Another
question is: Suppose King is removed, then who and what? The tenacious Richard
is definitely out! The popular assumption is: if you remove King, then you also
remove Richard! Dr Gale Rigobert has said she's not interested. Mr Arsene James
(a former Opposition Leader) said he is not ready yet. That leaves Guy and
Estaphan for the job.
On
the surface, Guy is playing an ambivalent game; but I believe his ambivalent
posturing is just a smokescreen. I am sure that I’m not the only one who is of
the view that Guy will do anything to please his master. Hence, I wouldn’t be
surprised that he would allow himself to be railroaded into the position by
default!
A
downgrade from a King to a Guy may have catastrophic consequences for the UWP
and I suspect the displacement of the King as LOO may well be a fatal faux pas that may well represent major
moral victory for the Colossus over Goliath.
But
whatever happens in the end will be good for democracy in the sense that it
will give the spectator “voters” a sneak preview of a political party’s
internal stability and readiness to assume the reigns of power.
Meanwhile
and on top of all that is happening, Kenny remains King; Chastanet desperately
wants to be King; but King would have none of it!”
Over
the Calypsonians!
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