St Lucia’s ‘Old World flycatcher’: Part 1

By Caribbean News Global

There is hardly any appetite for The Old World flycatchers – ‘ … of small passerine birds restricted to the Old World,’ to understand predictable ineptitude from senior government ministers’ selective discernment in Saint Lucia.

In a review of the article ‘The pathogens of deception,’ March 31, 2016, a few lines signal re-sighting:

“Recent events are more profound to the intellectual dishonesty that has the propensity to say one thing and do another. What is more striking is the lack of engagement and soul-searching to the obsession with false promises, denial about the happy face of socio-economic deprivation and the root cause of injustice.

“Of course, that does not bear the slightest suspicion that the country’s leadership makes unintelligent decisions that has the facade of uprightness. Actually, it’s just as important to being lucky fools of deception.

“All of which brings into question, how much the country’s leadership understands the odds to succeed in a system that slices and dices, misdiagnoses and botches solutions. And if, according to the political rhetoric, this election is about defining the future, then how can one be 100 percent Saint Lucian when government is incapable of defending rights and freedoms, economic well-being, equal opportunity with the dispensation of “selective” rule of law.

“In view of that, it is tough not to be guarded against injustice, trauma and misery. And so, it is important to remind the leftist political class that the inflated grandeur of epistemic arrogance constrains human ingenuity and imagination.

“And if such backward course of action continues, this will lead to an extended period of socio-economic mayhem, judicial injustice and distress with the trappings to make the country more ideologically bankrupt and frantic than present.”

The unusual revelation of having police files and/or confidential national security documents in the wrong hands; and at a higher level not knowing the people’s business, “I don’t know” – even to quieten, “ I have never been to Vieux Fort,” – Saint Lucia’s military zone as referenced ‘The encumbrance of hypocrisy permeates crime in St Lucia’ and St Lucia police given ‘additional powers’ to battle crime wave,’ is surely everyone’s business.

The nature of the visual compounds the absence of the less talented to provide clarity and rebuttal on the perception of the government of Saint Lucia. However, the rhetoric is submissive to ‘sloppy’, ‘devious tactics and unreadiness’ to reason with the public.

In a press statement on May 10, 2021, the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) ”called on the United Workers Party (UWP) government to clarify the situation regarding the status of the IMPACS report,” stating that ”the labour party government had submitted the report to the then Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in 2015.”

Henceforth, the aforementioned are but flycatchers that have left many nationals in a permanent state of abeyance, and sections of the intelligence community stunned.

In August 2013, after rumours of unlawful killings came to light, the United States suspended all assistance it was giving to the Royal Saint Lucia police force, citing “credible allegations of gross human rights violations” that took place in 2010 and 2011 during a security drive called Operation Restore Confidence (ORC).

During ORC, the Saint Lucia government issued a public warning to criminals that “there will be no hiding place for anyone.” Five of the twelve men shot dead were killed in a single operation in Vieux Fort. In 2012, local inquests concluded that six of the shootings were justified but the US indicated that it did not have confidence in the outcomes of the hearings, while relatives of the victims have insisted they were murdered.

Consequent on the State Department’s report, the United States government proceeded to apply to Saint Lucia what has come to be widely known as the “Leahy Law.”

Dr Kenny Anthony, [then] prime minister of Saint Lucia, on Sunday, March 8, 2015, delivered a televised address entitled: “A Distressing Issue To Confront” based on the findings of a report by the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), which has not been published, because “it could compromise investigations that were still taking place, and to protect witnesses,” and he called the report “extremely damning.”

How then does the Saint Lucia government solve this apparently intractable dilemma?

There is indeed a viable solution to Saint Lucia’s difficulties in relation to the Leahy Law sanctions. However, that would necessitate engaging constructively with alternative thinkers, with access to strategic intelligence, development, and investment sources.

To borrow from John Donne’s “No man is an island”, it is equally true to say that no Caribbean island is an island, entire of itself, and Saint Lucia would be best served to tap into personal and organizational talents and resources to deal with the tough challenges ahead that continue to inhibit economic, political and social growth.