St Kitts and Grenada: Two sides of the same coin
Arthur Kallick was born in Trinidad and lived in Grenada until he moved to Canada in the late 1980s after completing secondary school. He has a Master’s in family counselling and child physiology from the University of Toronto. He is now a freelance writer and has been living in Grenada for the past six years, and at present works with Caribbean Family Planning unit as a counsellor
By Arthur Kallick
I was amused when Grenada’s PM Keith Mitchell weighed in on the post election “crisis” in St Kitts. He quipped that the situation “aches” him. I could not believe my ears.
The deplorable conduct of the supervisor of elections in St Kitts is just the tip of the iceberg. The callous attitude displayed reflects the end product of the dictatorial and egocentric politics displayed by the likes of Dr Denzil Douglas. Dr Keith Mitchell reads from the same hymn sheet. The patent lack of respect for institutions is reflected by the placement of surrogates (oft times incompetent) in key positions within these institutions. In both countries that is their modus operandi.
Recall when former supervisor of elections in Grenada, Ms Judy Benoit, rose in defence of the office, she was promptly fired by the governor general. On whose advice did the Dame Cecile act? It is an open secret.
Ms Beniot had the “audacity” to question a Cabinet decision to connect all electoral offices on the island via internet to a server located at the prime minister’s office. Dr Mitchell, of course, heads the cabinet. In effect, she was questioning his decision and he will have none of that.
Drs Denzil Douglas and Keith Mitchell are in fact political Siamese twins. They control all organs of state and minions are placed to do their bidding. Moreover, they go to great lengths to create an operating environment where public officers are schooled to make decisions on the basis of second guessing the leader. In other words, they act based on what they think the “chief” would have wanted. The unfortunate thing is that, when it backfires, these same “chiefs” immediately disassociate themselves by saying, “I did not instruct anyone to so do.” The vulnerable are then thrown under the bus.
In Grenada, many, if not most electoral officers are known supporters and activists of the ruling party. This creates ample room to manipulate the voter registration process. In this regard the integrity of the electoral system is systematically compromised.
Dr Mitchell has no moral authority to speak on the St Kitts matter. His conduct here in Grenada negates any such authority. Like Dr Denzil Douglas, Grenada’s prime minister believes that the office of prime minister is his private domain and he will do anything to keep it that way. They will do anything to stay in office; the end justifies the means.
The recent events in St Kitts show how brittle our democratic institutions are in practice. Independence can be legislated, however “fearless independence” is a human factor that is difficult to enact into law.
Dr Douglas is gone, hopefully for good; 2018 may well be Dr Mitchell’s turn and who knows, a Wingrove George might just pop up from the electoral woodwork.
Former Prime Minister of St.Kitts-Nevis Dr Denzil Douglas
Leave my country alone how can you pass judgment on st Kitts leave us alone