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 23 November 2013. Welcome, welcome, welcome to another edition of Just Another Look. On Tuesday 19 November 2013, we observed the seventh year of the disappearance of SVG Air J8 VAX. On board were the pilot, Dominic Gonsalves and Rasheed Ibraham, who was at the time working in Canouan. Just Another Look has kept this particular issue in the forefront of its programming for the past seven years. The reason for this is quite simple. We crave justice. But what is justice? Do we recall what happened? Do we remember the callous approach to the disappearance of a plane in this country? Do we remember that the mother of Rasheed Ibrahim was the one that brought to light that the plane had actually disappeared? Do we recall the seemingly sloppy approach to addressing the matter? Do we remember that it was the brother of Rasheed Ibrahim’s mother who activated the process that led to helicopters coming here from Trinidad and Tobago to aid in the search for the missing plane, J8 VAX? Do we recall the faux pas at the ET Joshua Airport where the plane was recorded as having landed? Do we remember the sorry attempts at damage control from our authorities? Do we remember the report? What a report! It is now seven years later. The pain is no less damaging to the loved ones. Seven years later Dominic Gonsalves and Rasheed Ibrahim can be officially declared dead. What happens now? Would the family of Rasheed Ibrahim be compensated? Or will there be need for a legal hassle going forward? Seven years, friends. Seven long but very, very painful years. Will people now hide below the cover of the law? Time alone will tell. NDP’s Convention 2013 Tomorrow, Sunday 24 November 2013, the Opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) will hold its annual Convention. Of course, as is the case with every political party, regardless of which country and whatever part of the world, the ultimate objective is to establish a platform for accessing government and governance of the State. Here in St Vincent and the Grenadines, the NDP is up against the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) itself in the throes of its own internal crisis especially in respect of the question of succession and the retention of government. General elections are due by 2015 but many seem to think that it would be called earlier. This is not likely to happen once the Argyle International Airport is not yet complete. The Argyle International airport is the flagship project of the ULP. There is nothing left. Everything else has faltered and failed. The only project left for the ULP to hold aloft is the Argyle International Airport. This is the project that is the last hope for the ULP to make a pitch to the Vincentian electorate to garner votes in the pending general elections. Analysis of the ULP would reveal a very scared organisation, uncertain of itself and bothered by the fact that it has lost touch with the young people of St Vincent and the Grenadines, is surrounded by the beneficiaries of its political largesse and no longer enjoys the support of the vast majority of the Vincentian electorate. In short therefore the ULP is a spent political force. Those who have monitored the mode of operation of the ULP since it came into existence would realise that it revolves around two individuals. On the one hand there is the seemingly self styled Maximum Leader. On the other hand there is the seemingly indefatigable, Julian Francis. It is rather interesting though that closer analysis of the ULP would reveal that Francis, for all of his work for the organisation, has not been able to access Parliament as a representative of the people by virtue of winning at the polls. One would have thought that someone perceived and deemed so invaluable to the ULP would at least have been the beneficiary of what is often referred to as a safe seat. But for Julian Francis that has never happened. One wonders therefore why it is that so many Vincentians are today speaking of Camilio Gonsalves’ involvement in local politics as inclusive of a search for a safe seat. No wonder then that some Vincentians may find it opportune to ask, what is it about Camilio’s contribution to the ULP that may allow him to be a sort of ULP-favoured child versus the indefatigable Julian Francis. It begs the question of whether the ULP itself is afraid of ensuring that Julian Francis earns his place in Parliament via the route of winning at the polls. It is normal for a political party to ensure that its top tier leadership are handed the safest seats in the country to guarantee their presence in Parliament. Whatever about a senatorial appointment meaning that an individual is a member of Parliament, there is always a greater sense of security and of the right to be there when one wins at the polls. The ULP has, for the past several years, been seeking to regenerate itself and the more it has worked at this the more problematic the issue has become. The reason is clear. The answer lies in the EG Lynch analogy. The ULP essentially comprises of one encyclopaedia and several copy books. Perhaps we should note here that the term copy books is not intended to be mere exercise books but more fundamentally, the concept refers to the capacity to copy, to mimic, rather than to be one’s self. The concept of copy books here refers to the capacity to strive to be like another rather than be original and creative. Tomorrow the NDP meets. The foregoing is but a brief insight into the political context in which it is having its Convention. Whatever the NDP may plan to address tomorrow at its annual Convention, the following are some critical issues that the organisation must confront if it is to be considered serious about getting a mandate to govern St Vincent and the Grenadines in the midst of a critical political, economic and socio-cultural malaise. The Vincentian economy In a recent address to UWI Students in a forum organised by UWI and the St Lucia Students Association, Prime Minister of St Lucia second time around, Kenny Anthony, made a comment that is all too familiar. Kenny noted, The tragedy of the times is that we are in the throes of a major crisis like the Caribbean has never ever experienced before, but we are refusing to face the reality that confronts us and all of us are engaged in one form or another of self-denial. Kenny Anthony’s statement was immediately carried across the Caribbean as something remarkable. The truth is that Kenny Anthony was merely repeating what the likes of Norman Girvan and other outstanding economists have been saying about this Caribbean of ours for several years. Interestingly and importantly, it is precisely what Arnhim Eustace has been saying for the past decade but for which the ruling ULP has repeatedly chastised him and labelled him, a prophet of doom and gloom. The regional and local media readily latched on to the comments of Kenny Anthony as something so remarkable and truthful yet our own Arnhim Eustace has been saying exactly the same thing for almost ten years. But that is our reality. It is better when someone else says it than when one of our own engages in the same kind of analysis and arrives at precisely the same conclusion. Isn’t it funny that even in the most recent sitting of the Parliament here, when Eustace criticised the state of the Vincentian economy, having taken into consideration the external shocks, he was chastised once more for being a prophet of doom and gloom, yet members of the ruling regime could get up and cite the global economic situation and be applauded for making astute analyses. The NDP has to continue to place the economy of St Vincent and the Grenadines at the top of its agenda in the politics of the day. The importance of keeping the issue of the state of the Vincentian economy uppermost is because we are among those countries that Kenny Anthony referred to as being in a crisis but we are refusing to face the reality that confronts us and all of us are engaged in one form or another of self-denial. We have been lied to all too often in respect of the Vincentian economy. Vincentians are today experiencing their worst economic circumstance since Independence. Everywhere in this country people are hurting. Everywhere in this country businesses are hurting. More than ever before the government is running on E and that literally means EMPTY. The government is today surviving off of taxes. People’s taxes are rising at a disproportionate rate to their salaries and wages. If your take home pay cannot take you home how are you expected to eat? How are you expected to pay your mortgages? How are you expected to help your children get to school? If your take home pay cannot take you home how are you expected to live? Vincentians are being taxed to the max. Vincentians are being taxed out of existence. Here is Kenny Anthony again… This is a period when the region should be engaged in self-reflection in a way that it has never ever done before because the historical opportunity has never presented itself. It has presented itself and we are handling it very badly, and a society can’t be great if it doesn’t have the will and capacity to face its problems. We are not doing so in the Caribbean. Kenny Anthony here again essentially regurgitates all that Arnhim Eustace has said about the Vincentian and Caribbean economy. Isn’t it amazing that this is the same Kenny Anthony who, some years ago, characterised Eustace as a manicou? Is it that the manicou has suddenly developed economic wisdom? Anthony is now confessing to the reality that we have been cautioned about for the past several years. When we were told that we were on the cusp of economic take-off, did Eustace not warn the nation that we were nowhere near that and that in many respects we were being misled? He was called a prophet of doom and gloom. Was Eustace not the one to tell us about the state of the NCB? Did he not warn us about the disrespect being shown to the farmers in this country? Has he not been calling for a rethinking about the way we manage the Vincentian economy and argued in favour of providing incentives to inject life into the same economy? Has Eustace not been calling for a regeneration of confidence? But it has always been the case that he has ignored by the ruling regime. It is now most interesting that after successive years of overseeing this country’s economic decline members of the ruling ULP are articulating much the same things that Eustace has been saying for several years but they are not taking any blame for it. It is the global economic downturn that has us this way. Every economic indicator in St Vincent and the Grenadines is pointing downward. This is the reason that the different ministers are at their wits end trying to find things to say to the people of this country. Just Another Look has consistently asked the Prime Minister of this country to point us in the direction of where the people, the investors, were lining up in 2001, when he seemed to be suggesting, at one gathering after another, that investors were virtually lining up to come here to invest but that they were waiting for him to get elected. We have been asking the Prime Minister to tell us where these people were lining up in 2001 so we can go and see if they are still there since they are certainly not here. The Prime Minister has been unable to attract the investors in large enough numbers to positively impact the Vincentian economy. We have asked, for example, what is the contribution thus far of the Buccament Bay Resort to the Vincentian economy. It is not that we do not want to see a Resort come here and develop into a successful endeavour. The several issues attendant to that particular institution is what has left a sour taste in the mouths of scores of Vincentians. The NDP must therefore keep the Vincentian economy uppermost. It must be remembered that in the political campaign of 2001 and for some time thereafter, the Greaves, Bonadies and Veiras, were prime targets. Vincentians heard on one platform after another a clarion call for people and/or groups interested in developing supermarkets to come forward. What was the intention? Why were the Greaves, Bonadies and Veiras targeted in this seemingly vile manner? Are they not hardworking Vincentians who became successful over time? Why target them? How do people who wish to lead, to govern a country, publicly engage in this kind of conduct and find it appropriate to an economic development strategy? Was the establishment of Super J and Save A Lot in St Vincent and the Grenadines a response to the aforementioned clarion call? The problem is that we have an economy that is in near-ruin largely because of the seeming ineptitude of the ruling regime. It is not enough to speak to the electorate repeatedly about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are being expended when they continue to witness significant decline in their capacity to eke out a living in Vincentian society today. This country is deficient in respect of investors since the ULP has come to the fore. While the organisation boasts of a track record that it alone seems to know about the fact is that we can perhaps count on one hand the number of investors who have been brought here under their watch. The NDP must therefore be able to address and redress this particular problem. There has to be a strategy for change. In respect of agriculture, for example we have witnessed the decline of the banana industry. We have had the Minister of Agriculture urging farmers to get on board with what he called, Operation Plant Back. The farmers however have lost confidence in the Ministry and the government and the Operation Plant Back has essentially failed. We keep hearing about the importance of fishing to this country’s economy yet there is little evidence to show that we have as yet been able to create a mechanism to benefit from this aspect of our development strategy. The poachers from around the world still seem to be reaping far more benefits from our fishing industry that Vincentians are able to do. The NDP has to address and redress this untenable situation here in respect of Agriculture and Fisheries. There is far more talk than action. The reality is that the ruling regime and particularly the Minister of Finance do not know how to take us out of this malaise. He does not know enough about economics and perhaps even less about finance to sufficiently comprehend the reality to facilitate the development of appropriate strategies to stimulate the Vincentian economy. Education The NDP has to expose the truth about what is happening in education. While we are focusing on those who we give a few dollars because they succeeded in their exams and thump our chests in the process, the reality is still poor grades in English and Mathematics. That has not changed and the situation seems set to get worse. We emphasise the few and ignore the majority who are falling well short of the mark. There is no education revolution in St Vincent and the Grenadines. The NDP must reveal the reality of the education reform that it had set up and how it has been tinkered with by the current ruling regime such that it can boast of what it has done as something of a revolution. The NDP must expose the harsh reality of where we are falling short in education and provide its own development pathway in this regard. Health The Milton Cato Memorial Hospital is perhaps now more reflective of the state of health in this country than ever before. An increasing number of Vincentians have been exposed to what happens there and the shortcomings that must be addressed. The Opposition NDP has to provide for the nation the true state of affairs in respect of our health situation. Do people have to find pharmaceuticals for their family members because of shortages at the Hospital? Is this something that is being made up or is it the truth? Are the facilities and equipment in need of a comprehensive overhaul? Are we engaging in adequate maintenance of the existing equipment and facilities? These are but a few of the many questions that the NDP must address. If the ruling regime could have bought the expensive CT Scan Machine and leave it in the container at the Victoria Park for several months in the sun until we raised noise about it before they started opening it up for air, what else could we expect from them? Social degradation St Vincent and the Grenadines is a hotbed of crime and deviance and increasingly so. Murders are quite common and for very simple reasons. The daylight shooting and robbery of the young man on Wednesday last is reflective of the sad state to which we have sunk in this country. The Opposition has been pointing to the social degradation for several years but to no avail. It appears that the ruling regime is more concerned with the fanciful narrative we got from the Prime Minister in early 2011 about some plot to kill him – a dramatic presentation that could easily have led him along the path to an Oscar for the putrid. There is no shortage of issues in this country that the NDP needs to address. Beyond the Convention The Convention this year must be an important milestone for the NDP. It must signal the commencement of a new phase in its development. The NDP has to follow the Convention with a renewed emphasis on research. The Research Department of the NDP has not been doing enough to investigate and bring to the fore the critical issues that are impacting the people of this country. Things are happening around this country everyday that reflects the decline of the ruling regime and these must be highlighted. Every day more issues must be brought to the electorate serving not just to make mention of them but also to provide the basis on which to fashion the alternative development pathway that the country needs. The NDP has to engage in house-to-house as a matter of policy, getting the electorate to articulate their views on change in addition to ventilating their needs. There has to be a new consensus building exercise from the party that brings Vincentians together rather than divides them. The colonial ethos that the ULP continues to perpetuate that divides our people has to be cast off for a more deliberate strategy of building bridges of hope; bridges of reconciliation. The NDP must bring to life its Social, Spiritual and Redemption Charter. This must be the foundation stone of the healing that must take place in Vincentian society. The fact that the ULP rubbished the Charter is itself reflective of the bankrupt nature of that organisation. The society needs a soul and the ULP cannot bring that to the table. The games that have been played with religion must be brought to an end. Beyond the Convention the NDP must show itself an institution of unity. There has to be a singleness of purpose. The posturing of some members at the leadership level must stop. The NDP must show itself a renewed and revitalised organisation possessive of the will and the capacity to effect change. In many respects the NDP must, in the post convention period, reveal itself as an organisation ready to take hold of the mantle of government with the support and involvement of the people. The gap that now exists between the ruling regime and the masses who once were enamoured by them must be an important lesson for the NDP of what not to do in government. J8 SXY Today the 23rd day of November 2013, marks 1,272 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 2013, the husband of Patricia Bowman, Alban Bowman, will sit in sad, quite reflection on the fourth anniversary of the cruel death of his wife. She died a cruel death on 19 September 2008. 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: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 11:10:56 +0000
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