IT may have been that headline in last weekend’s STAR newspaper which shouted in bold red ‘Looshan at Heart;’ quoting the island’s Prime Minister, referencing Chagoury, his Ambassador to UNESCO. Yes, ambassadorial appointments are one of the more onerous tasks of a Prime Minister. That headline was more recognizable than the middle-aged, Middle East face, on the front page, it so honoured. It may have been the thought that wealth can lure avarice into acts of intentional recklessness and that such acts may not be always welcome. Then again, excessive wealth has rarely been accumulated without a little unscrupulous conduct. Avarice is not easily satisfied. Soon, it develops a life of its own, becoming habit…and difficult to curb.
Whatever the reason (or reasons?) for my reaction to that newspaper headline, I knew at once that I had found a new cause to promote and to which I must hitch my wagon – and energy. I have long believed that the major cause of recurring (and increasing) poverty in the Caribbean is the ability of avarice, to siphon off scarce resources into its private pockets, whilst keeping the poor ignorant, and dependent.
Call it experience if you will but, these are the thoughts which created my Eureka moment as I perused last weekend’s STAR newspaper. Here’s an expansion of the idea: to get seven or eight like-minded Saint Lucians together, who must all be ‘Looshan at heart’ and also by birth or naturalization. They must be men and women who have conquered their demons and have no political axe to grind, and no more wealth to accumulate. They must have been well travelled, preferably having lived and worked in a developed country, experiencing harsh winters. Above all, these seven or eight must be distinguished by experience, knowledge, temperance, justice, fortitude, courage, clarity, vision and fearlessness.
I feel certain that of the proximate 200,000 persons who now live here, there are at least 200 who fit such a profile. It is from that lot that the seven or eight must come. Remember, dear reader, these are only my thoughts.
There is one more crucial qualification: each member of this proposed group must have concluded on their own accord, that “IMPACS” stands for ‘Imprudent Academics, Cabals and Scoundrels.’ Each member of the group must lean towards the same gut suspicion on “IMPACS,” and be willing to demand full disclosure of the recent IMPACS Report submitted to the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia.
At the first meeting of the group it shall choose a name for itself. The purpose for the group’s formation is to bring open, frank and fearless discussion on issues including, the ‘IMPACS Report.’ I repeat that it is my considered opinion that the first order of business must be to convince the powers that be to release that report to the media and public. No excuses should be accepted for concealing any part of that report. The whole report, and nothing but the whole, must be exposed to the light of day, so all can see. After all, it was the people who were (and still are), traumatized by violence reported by ‘IMPACS’. Therefore, nothing else but full disclosure of that report will suffice.
If we have learned anything in the last 20 years or so, it is that ‘the more things change the more they remain the same.’ To create a better society and country things must be changed for better. Releasing the complete ‘IMPACS Report’ is therefore a step in the right direction. Citizens have a right to demand to see that report. It’s the least those who pleaded for government and the police to intervene (2010 and 2011) in order to curb rampaging crime, deserve. People were frightened! Some were afraid to leave their homes. Others would not venture out after dark or visit certain parts of Castries by day, or, by night. Saint Lucians were relieved, perhaps even happy, to see the end of that dark, crime-ridden period. Many more seemed pleased with the harsh actions of the police.
A minority have claimed that the police over reacted and killed where they should otherwise have arrested and prosecuted suspected persons. The police have tried that! Bail is granted and the ‘nice young men’ are released to continue their evil ways, while taunting the police. The watchful world, of which we claim uninvited membership, abhors killings which it considers, extra-judicial. To add to the complexity and seriousness of the situation, persistent rumours suggest that certain extra-judicial killings were directed from the higher echelons of society.
For all these reasons, the citizens of Saint Lucia who bore the brunt of stress and fear during the period of lawlessness (2010-2011), must demand a prompt release of that IMPACS Report which looked into those killings. Saint Lucians are tired of having their hard earned tax dollars fritted away on studies and reports which lay gathering dust in government offices. A new spin is to post these reports on a government website, and forget about them. Perhaps it is assumed that, once these are in the public domain, the more perceptive and engaged citizens will lobby for their implementation. Unfortunately, this island’s studied indifference to reading and then engaging authority, suggests otherwise.
Notwithstanding, Saint Lucians must insist that the island is not forced into another general election without full disclosure and release of the ‘IMPACS Report.’ That should be the resolve of those who love this country and who vote on issues, rather than blindly for one political party, or the other. Blind sentimentality is the emotion of mendicants whose minds are caged and unable to fly.
If the IMPACS Report is allowed to be treated as if the electorate were foolish virgins, who is to say when the next round of killings will begin and who will be the next victims. When violent crime returns what (or who?) can we blame but our silence? Can someone whose secret life is beneath the public radar order a killing or two, when his darker side is uncovered? Bear in mind dear reader, a cornered animal will attack with full force, in order to escape.
Finally, here are three questions which the general public ought to ask about the IMPACS Report. Is the reason for the non-release of the report a political one? Does the report expose certain politicians whose political value will be lost if the public gets to know the truth? Is there a secret agenda to shuffle the police hierarchy under the cover of that report? My wish and prayer is that you too, dear reader, will arrive at your Eureka moment. Feel free to use ‘impertinent’ instead of ‘imprudent’ and take note that I have said nothing on the Lambirds scandal.
Ole boy, I would like to rate this piece a “Tim Tim Bwa Chez” tale gone awry , But your current plume has all the mad cap slapstick earmarks of Boloma and Souchouyens being chased about the belfry of Notre Dame by the Hunchback a la Tarzan Style.
Moreover, I am getting some resonance in your excessive sounding off of your nemesis .
Is there a mentoring relationship that you yearned for from Dr K?
Did you wish him to be your PATROCULUS or yearn for the type of mutual harmony and the consequent intellectual discourse that was available for Achilles? Hmmmmmm!
You do realize that you may not rise higher than Poodle groomer assistant in King Agamemnon’s battle field postings.
A Canary recently tweeted sightings of Fedee at the Nazi institute of Indoctrination.
He remains mesmerized by the multimedia brainwashing immersions into Gobbell’s oratory. He has high hopes that the revengeful King Agamemnon shall reward him with the official PR plum posting.
Compared to the more consistent yet predictable pit bull aka “Fedee” your writing can be steady one week and chaotic like an overly zealous mutt.-the next.
You need a girlfriend!!!!!!!!!
The great Dane from Micoud- is way over the top for you.
The chi wa wa from the union -now senator – would freak you out at midnight-everynight. You would have zombie like daymares.
Go to Haiti. Do whatever it takes to solicit a temple virgin assistant priestess of a Shango Temple.
You shall feel a rebirth so virile that your newly bonded virgin mate will shudder as she exclaims climatically, your new call name SHAKA_ZULU!.
Well you know the cost of making this fantasy REAL, n’est pas? 🙂
It is about equivalent to what you are now exchanging to be “assistant jester in King Agamemnon’s court 🙁
DASSAULT MIRAGE,
After reading Josie’s hysterical hallucination, I must tell you that I never stopped laughing while reading your witty dissection of this “Tim Tim Bwa Chez” tale gone awry”. Look, I absolutely enjoyed this one, but yet again you never disappoint those of us who read your brilliant comments.
Thank you so much for this gut-wrenching spell of laughter.
Women who disrobe and ‘pose’ to entertain the public are derogatorily referred to as strippers – prostitutes in search of compensation for their sexual services. However, when male prostitutes strip naked wearing nothing but Baby Oil and Vaseline to entertain audiences who lust after the bodies of male subjects, female (jons) and homosexuals, a practice ubiquitous in England, such male prostitutes are hailed as Body Builders or Weightlifters as is the case of Rick John Wayne who seem to have aroused the lustful passions of Peter Josie.
I admit there is the question of what is the catalyst of Josie’s now open lustful and attraction for this overbearing Roman stripper John Wayne. Is it Wayne’s shabin complexion ? knowing Josie’s proclaimed hatred of Chocolate Colored women as carnival queen contestants, this might indeed be his now open lustful attraction to Rick John Wayne, and his daily expressions of affection for the stripper.
Foolish virgins ? what are you talking about, Peter ? Enough already ! Please stop using the hospitality of this Newspaper to give free promotions to the infirm Rag, called Star, and the Naked Stripper John Wayne, oiled for his British homosexual audience.
The corruption continues.
Months ago I said the following.
!) Over 500 people have been murdered in St. Lucia over the past 15 years. It has been directly correlated with the breakdown of decency in the society inclusive of the breakdown in family life.
87% of St. Lucians are now born outside of married family life and all evidence (from endless studies in the USA and Europe) points to the absence of the biological father in the home as the chief cause of violence in a society with no control over the youth in their developing years. In the process we have also become a corrupt moral community where drugs, alcohol and sex are paramount. We have replaced ‘freedom’ as an ideal with ‘freeness’ in all walks of life as in a lack of personal responsibility and the view that we can do as we please whether it is drug taking or stealing or sexual perversion. We ideolise single motherhood with its feminization of poverty and corruption of young women.
2) The only reason we have had a hiatus in the murders was that the corruption and linkages between the police, drug underworld, government and big wigs in the society meant that the decision was made to ‘calm down’ the murders because of the heat from the English and Americans due to the Gobat murder and the revelations coming from the IMPACS report. Only in an utterly corrupt society can such a phenomenon occur.
3) Subsequent to my assertions we learnt from the IMPACS Report that there is indeed a strong correlation with crime and linkage between the police, the drug underworld, the government and big wigs in our society. In other words I asserted this was an issue and now even a report backs up my claim.
4) How dysfunctional is our society is made so much more apparent by the fact that NOTHING of substance has come out of the IMPACS Report. It might as well not have been written just like so many other reports gathering dust in government offices.
Remember the report on the cost overuns and mismanagement and the view that there is an acceptance of corruption in this country that is part of the fabric of the society? Did not change a thing.
With the IMPACS Report you have to ask the questions.
Who were responsible for the extra judicial killings? Who ordered them? Who carried them out? Was the government of the day involved? An extra judicial killing is murder yet all we hear is that some people might lose their jobs!
Even more importantly. Who are the leaders in society or in government, business and the police force who are part of the corruption as noted in the IMPACS REPORT and has bee alluded to in other previous reports?
When the government came on and informed the people of the contents of the report I saw it as a joke as it offered no solutions and just glossed over the importance of the revelations. They might as well have said nothing. Just more obsfucation from a government that since 1997 has created nothing but mayhem, dysfunction and debt totalling billions.
I am not asking anything that is not obvious to most members of this society but it is indicative of what a failed state that we are that no one cares or are too afraid to say anything.
What is ironic is that we claim to be a Christian nation when our actions show otherwise. We also fail to see that our moral corruption also affects productivity, job creation and the future of our citizens. We continue to decline in every aspects of our society even in such importance things as the ease of doing business for investors. All part of the corruption yet the Chamber of Commerce, the Church , the legal fraternity continue to let things slide.
We blame the police force but the reality is that these men and women are FROM our society. They are doing nothing more than what is seen as OK by the majority and what is probably being done id other party of the community. Blaming them is touching on just a part of the problem. We are them so stop the hypocricy.
All the hand wringing and prayers and expressions of alarm are a waste of time as is the political wrangling because the reality is that ‘we like it so’ and no one has any intention of doing anything to alleviate the problem. No wonder the well educated leave and every child’s dream is to move out to the USA or Canada to get away from the evil that permeates this society.
Joe,
None can dispute the truthful arguments you have presented. I would have liked to have seen what suggestions you have to remedy these problems??
Joe
Man oh man.
Fine oratory and in true Athenian De|livery. Socrates would nod his approval, too.
That was quite an enchilada. Yes siree, you got quite a hypothesis in the matrix.
Maybe, (to borrow a food analogy) the burrito is to large even to wrap hungry fingers around it, far less a wide enough apparatus to bite and chew into it?
Nevertheless, keep the faith.
What did Josie find? The love of his life? Rick. Why is he coming out of the closet now? Wayne in his thongs, strolling on the beach with Peter. St. Lucia is like Barbados samesex marriage. Ow wa garcon.