THE EDITOR:
George Odlum, may he rest in peace, was the one often credited for paving a way for Kenny Anthony to be accepted in the Allen Louisy Labour Government of 1979. Everyone knew that Odlum did not act alone. His political fulcrum was this writer, Peter Josie, the do-it-man whenever talk and promises were to be converted into solid action … with positive results. It was these two who took Kenny Anthony from his battered Laborie/Saltibus home and negotiated with Louisy to amend the new independence constitution to allow Kenny Anthony to be appointed Senator and Minister of Education. Kenny Anthony did not contest the 1979 general elections nor did he help in the campaign to elect the Labour Party to office.
Kenny Anthony was careful not to take sides in the leadership struggle which blemished the Louisy government. Instead, he ran away and was not seen or heard in political circles for some 18 years. He returned only after it became obvious that the people were ready to change the Compton government, but would not replace Compton with Julian Hunte.
Those who were plotting to throw Hunte under the bus went to seek Kenny Anthony in Barbados. It was observed that the man started to pay late night visits to watering holes in Saint Lucia testing the political ground himself. Seemingly, he did not trust those who had gone to him offering the party. A lack of trust topped by laziness, later developed into arrogance.
During his first general election campaign for the Vieux Fort South seat in 1997, Kenny Anthony’s main line of attack against me was that I was building a cement factory at the Vieux Fort docks which would generate dust on Vieux Fort and compromise health. The dust would also compromise the tourist industry, he claimed. I demonstrate that a cement plant was crucial to Saint Lucia given the poor housing at the time and the escalating cost of imported cement.
As recently as six years ago when he was Leader of the Opposition, he fought tooth and nail to oppose the renovation and modernization of Hewanorra airport at Vieux Fort. It did not seem to matter that the previous UWP-King government had imposed a small exit tax on passengers to help finance the airport redevelopment project. To this day Hewanorra airport which is the biggest employer in the south remains almost dysfunctional anytime two or three international flights are on the tarmac.
Then there are the more recent vehement criticisms by Kenny Anthony of the former King government for not getting St. Jude hospital renovated and reopened within the space of two years after the fire. Since his criticisms Kenny Anthony has been Prime Minister for four and a half years. St. Jude repairs and renovation are still not complete.
The George Odlum stadium has been used as a temporary hospital since the fire at St. Jude. The delay at St. Jude has compromised the use of the stadium by young athletes in their bid for national and international fame. Has Kenny Anthony demonstrated any sign of remorse for his behaviour in opposition and his couldn’t-give-a-damn attitude in government? I posit the view that that’s the profile of a man who needs power for his ego and nothing else?
Has anyone forgotten the many times Kenny Anthony attempted to intimidate others by challenging them to take him to court? In his legal battles he has had one who has stood by him in thick and thin. They have corroborated in a case involving Trinidad cement and CARICOM.
I have not bothered to mention the IMPACS report or VAT or the issues of ambassadorial appointments to UNESCO and IMO. What is clear is that Kenny Anthony is a man who will oppose and say anything to get into political office. It is also clear that the man will not explain Grynberg Oil or other issues in which the country may be interested. Two years ago he threatened to build a new office for the Prime Minister at La Toc. Now he proposes to build new government offices at Vieux Fort, in the hope of fooling the people of Vieux Fort one last time. No matter how one turns him, it is clear that Kenny Anthony behaves like a trapped animal.
Whatever they do and whatever the outcome of the next elections it is clear to this writer that Kenny Anthony has been an abject failure. He came into office on the sweat of others; he has sustained himself in office by using others, and on his departure will take down some. He has proven that he makes no emotional attachments; the man has no love, only likes.
Finally look what Kenny Anthony did to the two persons who were most influential in washing up his salt fish flat body flat and voting him into the Senate. He called Odlum the man who introduced him to China, ‘the great Satan.’ He has a twenty-year court battle against me for words spoken during the 1997 election campaign.
Sooner or later one must learn that life is not complicated. People make it so! There are persons who are not easily intimidated by Kenny Anthony. These people live by the power of a higher authority. I count myself among them. That power stands firm and resolute with those He loves. The general election of June 6 is not complicated. Vieux Fort and Saint Lucia just need to go out and vote Dr. Mondesir and the other UWP candidates on that date. Yes, just do it! It’s not complicated.
–Peter Josie
PETER JUDAS CAIN JOSIE THE SON OF THE EVIL ONE
COME AND I WILL TEACH YOU THE WAY OF ……………….
AL-AMEEN.
PETER JUDAS CAIN JOSIE THE SERPENT SEED
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT STARTED 2 DAY THE 28 MAY UPON YOU AND ALL YOUR STINKING BULL WRITING
BY NOW U SHOULD SEE YOUR LETTERS CAN’T CHANGE THE PRICE OF THE VICTORY OF THE S L P.
LABOUR HAVE STARTED THE VICTORY MATCH.
WE SHALL NOT B MOVE.
U WILL DIE A SUCKERERERER.
Josie, it is all so true that George Odium, Huntsman and Installment Spittle Fountain are obviously very poor judges of character. They threw an albatross around the necks of all Saint Lucians.
That albatross comes with the devastating hocus-pocus of something called the VAT, the unpatriotic insult called the CIP, the international scandal and embarrassment of Jufallie, and the crushing misery of these better days.
We, the created underclass must redeem ourselves by throwing out 17 to ZERO:
A) all the incompetent creators of our urban ghettos,
B) the traitorous legislation and legislating of a perpetual underclass and second-class citizenship through the CIP,
C) the establishment of generational working poor in our modern-day slavery in the hotel industry, and
D) the only guaranteed employment in the country by partisan roadside grass-cutters with STEP.
Hey Josie I seem to recall KDA played an important roll in the struggle to unseat Compton. I seem to recall Compton was locked in battle with civil servants over pay. KDA was at the time President of the teachers union who were also taking industrial action for more pay etc.
At the time the man was no politician so why do you today come and say he did not campaign to bring down the government. Did you want him on platforms rubbing shoulders with you? I will tell you where was and doing what: he was at his home mending his battered home so that when it rained his balls would not wet!
Oh Josie how much do you dwell on what may have been! I think St Lucia’s political life would be far richer if you took a non-partisan position on social and political issues. Forget KDA. Forget AC for a minute and think St Lucia. Surely this would not only be the best therapy you could ever get after your political humiliation but also you would gain a great deal of respect from not only your supporters but the entire country.