Why Chastanet Has S.L.P Spooked

IT is now clear why the St Lucia Labour Party is so relentless in its campaign of attacks on Allen Chastanet.

Now that he has led a solid protest march and attracted a massive crowd in the Boulevard; now that he has forced their hand on the fuel prices issue, we can expect things to get nastier from here on. The only thing is that this strategy is doomed to failure because any fool can see that the ground is quickly shifting under Labour’s feet and it is doing so massively.

It is really pathetic the extent to which Labour has gone trying to destroy Allen Chastanet, even as far as attempting to start a race and class war in our peaceful country. It is also disappointing to see that so many in the media, out of fear no doubt, have embraced the SLP’s smear campaign and have joined in soiling Chastanet’s name. They have him in court, but will not allow the case to take its course. Instead they continue their attacks in the rag which the public is paying for called NATIONWIDE in an article in last weekend’s edition under the fictitious name of Yolanda O’Brian. Whoever heard of any such person in the St Lucia media? It is as fictitious as Stephen Lester Prescott who writes in THE VOICE weekly, a fraud who lives in a different world to the rest of us. Someone should jail those comedians.

In the face of its inability to deliver on its election promises of 2011 to provide better days to the people, to produce the jobs bonanza that it also promised, the Labour Party now seems bent on annihilating anyone who steps in with a promise to supplant it in the seat of power.

The SLP is going out of its way to demonize Allen Chastanet and his father who are making a contribution to some of the very things that it, Labour, should be doing for the country: providing jobs and making life better for all.

Ironic, isn’t it, that Labour’s cupboard of successes in power is so bare that it must attack those who are doing better; that in the face of its abject failures, it must employ every political pimp and prostitute available to do its dirty work and smear its opponents with all sorts of allegations; that it must now rely on UWP rejects like Winston Springer to make a stand and fend off its miserable record in office.

Labour is so out of tune and out of touch that it does not realize that its fortress is being taken down brick by brick and the reason is that people are disillusioned. Under this government poverty has reached new heights. At one time we saw about 30 to 40 elderly people gathering in the city (on Brazil Street to be exact) on Saturday mornings waiting for alms. Lately the figure has swelled dramatically to the point that even some Syrian stores have now joined the small band of donors and poor people line up outside their premises waiting to receive a coin. If you don’t believe me take a walk around Castries on Saturday mornings.

The environment in Castries stinks with garbage and filth everywhere, not to mention the unbearable stench in a city that we encourage tourists to visit and shop and eat in. The St Lucia Tourist Board shows no shame over the prevalence of these conditions, but it continues to make noise about a small increase in the number of visitors. The Minister of Health does not see that she needs to say something to the people who are earning the money of us taxpayers to keep our health intact.

The Minister of Education too seems to have been on holiday. We complain about our children roaming the streets at all hours after school, about indiscipline and violence in schools and children using alcohol, but this Minister is useless and can do nothing to ensure that children going to school follow certain guidelines that guarantee discipline and good behaviour.

I can go on and on. Suffice it to say that what we have in office is a delinquent government. Dr. Anthony and his band of misfits are putting on a brave face, but everyone knows that they were stunned by the strength of the recent UWP march and public meeting, orchestrated by the very person they insist is a waste of time, Allen Chastanet. It is sad indeed that Labour finds itself in the situation today where it must resort to personal attacks on Chastanet and his father in order to try to assure its supporters and not even that is working.

Meanwhile, Labour is busy concocting all kinds of mischief. The latest is a so called petition calling on UWP supporters to say that they have no confidence in Chastanet. Could you believe how silly these people are? Here is a man who has in two successive years, badly beaten two different contenders for the leadership of his party, has just organized and led a solid anti-government protest march and we go about trying to get others to say that they have no confidence in him. I ask again: what is it about Allen Chastanet that has Labour so spooked?

The UWP need not fear the Labour Party’s dirty tricks. With the high level of public discontent that there is and likely continue to be with the government, they may all sink under the wrath of the voters in 2016. It is clear for all to see that the Labour Party under Kenny Anthony has been a disaster for St Lucia, with no programmes to lift the country out of its malaise apart from NICE and STEP….at least that is all Labour Ministers themselves can boast about. They have not seen the widespread unemployment, the dirty state of the environment, the serious issues in the health sector, the fact that so many people—especially young people are ending their lives through suicide. They ignore the desperation that most St Lucians feel as a result of their lack of vision and direction and instead seem to be concentrating all their efforts on fighting the Chastanets.

What is it going to take Labour to understand that they have turned our country into a desert of hopelessness?

The SLP is apparently so caught up in its collective ego that it does not understand that this country of ours is sinking into the abyss under its watch because of its lack of vision and leadership. To cover its ineptitude it resorts to attacking Allen Chastanet. So because someone in the UWP march carried a placard with the word “nigga”, it finds an issue to make hay. Didn’t someone in the Labour Government once refer to Guy Joseph as a poodle? Did he ever apologize?

It’s amazing that these people are questioning Allen Chastanet’s honesty and integrity when within their ranks, there are persons who have committed all kinds of crimes. We live here, we all know who they are. If you live in glass houses, do not throw stones.

The biggest disappointment in all this though is our Prime Minister who leads the charge of attacks on the Chastanets that is intended to spew hatred and division in the society, the classic Kenny and Tony syndrome whose other side hypocritically talks about love and unity in our country.

By Anton Fulgence