JAL 6 September 2014 Nice Radio’s Callaloo presents, Just Another Look. Just Another Look is an innovative, exciting, albeit decidedly provocative and controversial, socio-political analysis of issues of a local, regional and international nature. Just Another Look is heard only on Nice Radio on Saturdays at 6.00pm, with repeat broadcasts at 9.00pm on Sundays. Remember too that you can also catch us on the worldwide web, niceradio.info. You can check our JAL blog - vincyview I am, of course, Keith Joseph Introduction Today is Saturday 6 September 2014. Welcome, welcome, welcome to another edition of Just Another Look. The sheep is alive… it never died and the incident never existed… Bring me the dead sheep!!! Nansy Story Politics Just Another Look has always maintained that the politics of Gonsalves and the ULP, with which all Vincentians have now become familiar, is nothing but old hash. It is like the old people say, same old khaki pants. Indeed, some Vincentians may recall that in 2001 Ken Boyea, in his capacity as leader of the PPM, whatever that was, insisted that Gonsalves brought nothing new to the political table in this country and that we could only have gotten the same old khaki pants. One is not at all certain that today Boyea would claim to remember what we have just recounted here just as Parnel Campbell may not recall his comments made at a public meeting in Byera some years ago. Failed politicians have a tendency to display memory lapses with relative ease. Over the years we have seen Gonsalves become proficient at the Politics of Fear, the Politics of the Dead and the Politics of Distraction. Today we can say without fear of contradiction that Gonsalves can really only lay claim to Nansy Story Politics. About two weeks ago someone came to me requesting a loan of $5000.00. I waited to hear what was coming next. To my surprise the individual then declared, Don’t worry because in a few months I would come back to you to borrow another $5000 so that I could pay you the initial $5000 that I borrowed from you. Confused I responded that I would still be owed $5000. The individual quickly retorted, what so surprising about that. If we could do that with the NIS why can’t we do it with you? Vincentian society has moved from being cynical to being comical. It is now difficult to find anyone who takes the Prime Minister of this country seriously. The NIS situation has become something of a laughing stock in St Vincent and the Grenadines and perhaps far-reaching parts of the world as we have come to know it. What is perhaps more critical is the explanation that has been offered by all those in authority. For the most part it remains extremely difficult to take the explanation of the Minister of Finance with a straight face. It is difficult to imagine anything more facetious and one would be hard pressed to accept that the Minister even took himself seriously. There was a time in this Caribbean when our people scoffed at some of the proclamations of Eric Matthew Gairy, then Prime Minister of neighbouring Grenada. Gairy it was who took himself so seriously that he suggested to the United Nations General Assembly that we should designate a Year of the UFO. At the time heads of governments in the rest of the Caribbean were looking for places to bury their heads. Just Another Look has always indicated that there comes a time when some political leaders appear to hold themselves in such high esteem that they lose sight of what they have actually become. The man in the mirror deludes them to the point of unbelievable mockery. Gonsalves has been an avowed possessor of the gift of garb. He speaks eloquently on one platform after another. Unfortunately for him however, once people take the time to engage in astute critical analysis of what he speaks one finds little more than what is often referred to as erudite vacuity. Sometimes one gets the impression that the Prime Minister of this country relies heavily on the gift of garb and his own charisma. Unfortunately he does not yet seem to understand that his charisma has long since waned and there is now no lustre. The explanation of the most recent NIS loan leaves much unexplained. We are somehow being led to believe that the government had established new priorities since the floods of December 2013. Is that the truth? What were these priorities? We are hearing that we had to fix this and that, etc., that resulted from the December 2013 floods and as a consequence the contributions to the NIS were apparently used to facilitate the important work. If what we are only now being told is true then it raises even more important issues and it is amazing that our Rhodes Scholar and others fail to address them. Why did the government not come up front and explain to Vincentians at the time that they were going to use the NIS contributions to engage in rehabilitative work necessitated by the December 2013 floods that were considered priority? Did the Rhodes Scholar know that it is the people’s NOS monies that were being used at the time? Was Jomo Thomas aware of this? How many members of Cabinet were in the know at the time that the monies were being diverted, as it were, to aid in the rehabilitative work rather than being paid in to the NIS? How many Cabinet members can raise their hands today acknowledging that they were in the know about this shift of resources at the time and approved of it? Importantly, why is it that the government did not come to the Vincentian masses at the time and explain the proposed course of action regarding the monies being diverted instead of being paid in to the NIS? Here is a government that in 2001 extolled the virtues of good governance ULP style and advocated transparency and consultative democracy yet failed to come straight and clean with the Vincentian populace at the time of making a decision to divert the NIS contributions rather than pay them into the NIS. So much for transparency! So much for trust and confidence in our people! Just Another Look is suggesting here that Vincentians must analyse the events more closely. According to some sources the government appears to be claiming that it withheld the $15m in NIS payments, only over the past eight months and not before that. That remains questionable given Arnhim Eustace’s challenge that is yet to be disputed by the same government. But even if we were to accept the government’s statement there is much to be concerned about. Why did it take the government eight months to have it revealed to Vincentians that it had used the NIS contributions? Is that being honest? It takes eight months for the government to be honest with us? Indeed, had the government not required approval for the $15m loan from NIS to pay NIS would we ever have learnt as Vincentians that the monies were not paid in the first place? What confidence a government must have in its people! And what of the seemingly vainglorious boast that seems to suggest that the loan to repay a loan is in fact an investment. Just how stupid the government must be thinking that Vincentians are? The ruling ULP regime seems to have forgotten that it is the same Vincentians to whom they are now offering what can be nothing more than a namby pamby explanation that constitute the electorate. Of course the matter of the number of dead people on the voters list as well as emigres leaves much to be desired and there will be no major cleaning up of that any time soon. The explanation offered by the government on the latest NIS situation seems to assume that indeed the vast majority of Vincentians fall into the category of unschooled and untutored, malignant and dishonest, among the lowest common denominator and of course possessive of a sort of learned helplessness. That a Minister of Finance could defend the latest NIS situation is reflective of the sad state into which we have sunk as a nation. This is perhaps the clearest evidence of the loss of the way by the ruling regime and its leadership. Of course Eustace’s claim that the government has not been paying the NIS contributions since April of 2013 merits some consideration especially since it has not been refuted by government or its officials. Is it that the government is only now checking to see whether Eustace’s remarks were true? It is usual for the ULP to give a very quick and feisty response to any claim by Eustace or any of the leaders of the NDP if statements made are untrue. The fact that so much time has passed since Eustace’s comments about the figure for monies owed by government to the NIS being more like $23m instead of $15m and not including that which is owed by State enterprises and some people in the private sector tells an ominous tale. Are Eustace’s figures more accurate than those of the government? If Eustace’s figures are true then the explanation offered in respect of the $15m borrowed becomes a mockery and may well be interpreted as a ruse to give a certain impression to the Vincentian public. One would certainly hope that this is not the case but the situation is particularly worrying. The issue of a consultative democracy and transparent governance is called into question when one reviews the entire approach taken by the government on this matter. It is the government that has a responsibility to ensure that employers submit to the NIS their contributions on behalf of the employees. Yet here is the government withholding the contributions it is supposed to make to the NIS on behalf of its employees and for several months without the employees being told. If the reason given by the government is genuine then the latter should not have had a problem bringing its intention to the Vincentian public and get some sort of consensus. One however gets the impression that the government, now justifying its action in hindsight, may well not have been confident of receiving a positive response from their employees had they been told ahead of the action undertaken. Additionally, it does not seem far-fetched to suggest here that the government may have felt that to bring the matter to the fore earlier may well have played into the hands of the Opposition NDP, the party that has been warning Vincentians about the way the current administration appears to be treating the NIS and its resources. The ULP may well have felt that the NDP would have trumpeted the case around the country and score valuable points among the Vincentian electorate. It is most interesting to hear it said that one does not understand the concept of digging a hole to fill a hole. That statement is reflective of the depths to which we have sunk. But Vincentians ought not to be surprised at the explanation offered by the ruling regime regarding the monies withheld from the NIS and the subsequent loan to pay it. We have been this way before. Integrity Legislation It is unfortunate that we have to return to this sordid theme of Integrity Legislation so often. It is nonetheless necessary. In the ULP manifesto of 2001 Integrity Legislation was the major platform mantra of the organisation. The argument proffered at the time was that the NDP had left a sordid state of affairs such that the major issues were crime and the causes of crime. The focus was on white colour criminality. The voice of Vincent Beache can still be heard across the nation… and we promise you, we promise you that within the first 100 days in office the ULP will introduce Integrity Legislation in the House. We had proposed Integrity Legislation under the NDP but they didn’t want it. Within the first 100 days we will introduce Integrity legislation. Ask yourselves how many 100 days have gone by since the elections of 2001? What has happened to the promise of Integrity Legislation? Has it lost its significance? When we examine the most recent case of Madame Marks, what does it tell you as to why we do not yet, after 13 years, introduced Integrity Legislation? When we witness the from rags to riches life styles of some among us in rapid-fire time, we are clear in our own minds as to why we have not seen, after 13 years, the introduction of Integrity Legislation. We can bypass the Tenders Board as happened with the Bridge Over Troubled Water in Kingstown because we felt that it was necessary to do good. We ignored all of the reasons for having a Tenders Board. We boasted that should the same circumstances occur we would behave in the same way – bypass the Tenders Board, and found nothing wrong with the statement. What has become of us as a people? How did we get here? No one in government seems to care that we have failed after 13 years to introduce Integrity Legislation. Amazingly, some of those who now offer themselves as candidates have kept silent on the matter of their party’s consistent failure to appropriately address its promise to introduce Integrity Legislation. Perhaps, deep within their bosoms they are hoping that once inside they can effect change. What is it that they are seeing on the outside that they delude themselves into believing that they can change once on the inside? It is a pathetic thing when an individual is made to believe that he/she has some sort of divine right to be the next generation of rulers and begin this task by aligning himself or herself with a sordid, decaying political morass. Integrity Legislation? It has not yet reached the top of the ULP administration’s legislative agenda. Does this surprise anyone? Of course not! Why should it? Why then should we be surprised to hear the statement that we do not now understand the meaning of digging a hole to fill a hole? Claims of growing up in a banana farming community fail to impress those who, today, understand the nonsense that passes for political rhetoric, otherwise characterised as erudite vacuity of the most debased kind. Those who today are impressed by the foolishness have lost their souls, having surrendered themselves by lying prostate before the altar of political opportunism, graft and avarice. The tantalising juices of the political gravy train have allowed them to succumb all too readily to the whims and fancies of the ULP and its political culture. The delusionary impact of the tantalising juices of ULP culture has so mesmerised the minions that like their leadership they too have come to accept whatever is presented to them as truth. What a shame! The Cross Country Road In 2001 the ULP suggested that it would embark on the construction of a Cross Country Road. Indeed it was part of its manifesto for the elections that year. At the time, the ULP placed much of its emphasis on this new feature since it was argued that Vincentians have always wanted a road that would allow them to go around the country. In a sense, the ULP administration seemed to suggest to the Vincentian electorate that they would be fulfilling a long held dream if they constructed a Cross Country Road. In true ULP style the propaganda machinery went ahead and canvassed support claiming that it would not be long before we had the realisation of this Cross Country Road. Soon enough we heard about the construction of two important aspects of the Cross Country road, one on the Leeward side of the island and the other on the Windward side. The new administration boasted of ushering in a new era in St Vincent and the Grenadines and soon we would have the entire road completed. Julian Francis boasted that he expected to campaign for the next general elections on the newly completed Cross Country Road. Of course, you hear nothing about that same Cross Country Road now that we are 13 years later and counting. What happened? How is it possible that a project so highly touted in 2001 could have literally disappeared from the ULP’s political radar? Importantly for us here at Just Another Look is the fact that the government stood before the Vincentian public and sold them something that is hardly practised in engineering circles. The government actually boasted of starting the Cross Country Road at its two extremities. At the time we knew they did not have any idea of just where it was going to pass thereafter to facilitate their meeting. Unbelievable! Unbelievable but true! Vincentians were being asked to accept this rubbish from a newly established governmental regime. Ask any self-respecting engineer if that is acceptable in engineering circles, especially given the unchartered terrain between the two identified points where the road was supposed to have started on ether side of the island of St Vincent? The answer would be a resoundingly vociferous, no! But an unsuspecting Vincentian electorate was being made to buy into the utter rubbish fed to us in respect of the commencement of work on the Cross Country Road. Some may recall that when asked about the conduct of a feasibility study we were told that the donors of the funds for the construction of the road did not require that one be undertaken. So here we were, engaging in the construction of what would then have been the single largest capital project in the history of St Vincent and the Grenadines and we did not think it appropriate to insist on a feasibility study being undertaken. Great administration! Sound governance! 13 years later, none of the members of the ULP administration even makes mention of the construction of a Cross Country Road in this country. What then was it all about? Was it merely political capital that was being sought; being manufactured? Selling the NCB Then there was the more recent matter of the sale of the National Commercial Bank, an institution that many Vincentians once considered a national treasure. Eustace, as head of the Opposition NDP, spent much time cautioning this nation and especially the government about the way in which the NCB was being used. He made specific reference to the increase in the government’s overdraft facility at the institution and the monies owed by the different State enterprises. Eustace was repeatedly making the point that in the declining economic circumstances in this country the NCB would become a prime target. It was common to hear the government in Parliament characterise Eustace as a prophet of doom and gloom seemingly incapable of appreciating the vision of the administration. It came as no surprise to Eustace then that the same boastful government that saw us on the cusp of economic take off so long ago, being forced to dispense with our national treasure, the NCB. Amazingly and rather embarrassingly, there were those who dared to suggest that the forced sale of the NCB was a master stroke on the part of the ruling regime. Obviously the minions and those who regurgitated this nonsense lack the most basic understanding of what constitutes an economic master stroke and clearly confused this with crass incompetence. The Caribbean Development Bank it was that insisted that one of the conditions of the $100m loan to clear the monies owed to NCB by the government and several State enterprises (essentially government) would be provided on condition that significant shares in the NCB be divested. The end result was that we ended up with BOSVG instead of SVG and guess what? We are not the major shareholders. Why? Why are Vincentians not the major shareholders of what was once our treasure? Ask the ruling ULP? Let them tell you about the master stroke that left us beholden to St Lucians and now to Trinidad and Tobago’s Neal and Massey. If we were doing so wonderfully well with our master stroke how is it that we have witnessed the selling over of the St Lucian concerns to Neal and Massey of Trinidad and Tobago? Who is fooling whom? Why is it necessary to have the Vincentian populace deluded? Why is it so difficult for Vincentians to glean the truth about the BOSVG, once the NCB? That is our strategy? Lose our national treasure and that is fine. It was a master stroke to give up a national treasure. What will we give up next? As the saying goes, they came for everyone, one at a time and we stood silent. At last, they came for us and there was nothing left. God help us all. Don’t worry dear friends. We are far from hearing the end of the ULP government’s foray with the National Insurance Services. Perhaps we are only just beginning to understand why it was changed from being the National Insurance Scheme. J8 VAX Today the 6th day of September 2014, marks 2,875 days since the disappearance of SVG Air J8 VAX, if we are actually checking the day the plane disappeared on Sunday 19 November 2006 with pilot Dominic Gonsalves and one passenger, Rasheed Ibrahim. J8 SXY Today the 6th day of September 2014, marks 1,559 days since the disappearance of another SVG Air aircraft, J8 SXY, a Cessna 402. Just so you would remember, this aircraft left St Vincent in the evening of Thursday 5 August 2010 bound for Canouan. Like J8 VAX, the aircraft never reached its destination. It never completed its mercy mission. The plane disappeared and as yet no word has been received in respect of the lone occupant, the pilot, Suresh Lakram. The sad case of Patricia Bowman Just Another Look wishes to leave our listeners with the sad reminder that on 19 September 2008 Patricia Bowman was crushed to death while driving herself to work at Rathomill. Debris from a collapsing wall killed her in her car. Her husband, Alban Bowman, still cries out for justice. Who cares? Where is justice in this matter? Nuff said!!! You have been listening to another edition of Nice Radio’s Callaloo presentation, Just Another Look. Just Another Look is an innovative, exciting, albeit decidedly provocative and controversial, socio-political analysis of issues of a local, regional and international nature. Just Another Look is heard only on Nice Radio on Saturdays at 6.00pm, with repeat broadcasts at 9.00pm on Sundays. Remember too that you can also catch us on the worldwide web, niceradio.info. You can check our JAL blog - vincyview I am, of course, Keith Joseph
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 10:12:11 +0000
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