Thursday, November 6, 2014

Long Road Ahead For ‘Flambeau’

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I still do not understand how any party allows a yearly change of leader, like it's some sort of game. It's a joke. Seriously, you should have a leader and he puts his team around him and they develop policies as a government in waiting. They are in opposition and are meant to be holding the government to account and learn from previous mistakes. Then you have the election and if you lose THEN you change the team. Instead they are still organising who is going to be captain a year before an election. So if Preville won, all the favours he promised to "his" people would have to be returned with jobs instead, regardless if they are any good.

More to the point, who is preville? The man must obviously have a fair hearing but I get really suspicious of suits fluent in business speak. I work in finance and have traveled reasonably well - and I find that the more these international non-jobbers blind you with jargon the less they've actually got to say. They often come straight out of university and work in academia flouting around not having to do much real life work.

Without getting into the personal with Chastanet, I'm not sure he's going to be much good. It would be a cruel irony for him if he didn't actually win the seat. A good leader will start removing corruption from public life, improve standards in the civil service, stop wasting money on vanity projects and try to develop the social progress of the people.

Anonymous said...

Alva where you get all that money? Why did the govt increase the lease for the foreign affairs ministry at baywalk? De syrians coming after u Alva.

Anonymous said...

hopeful the shares of the former minister who made the deal to rent the offfice at baywalk (100 000.-per month)burn in his hands.
Thats what i call waist of money and the former minister of finance supporting passed this ;-(

Anonymous said...

Baywalk offices $10,000,000 lease, where the rest of the money Mr. Minister? Check in Black bay - higher up St. Hill ' s house. Volair

Anonymous said...

I have been a couple of times at the ministry of Foreign Affairs.Big office with a few people that have hardly any work. Waste of money spend on emplyees and office rent.

Anonymous said...

its a pity both parties sitting in a glass house therefore neither side can start prosecute any minister for wasting taxpayers money.
St.Lucia where we are happy !?!?

Anonymous said...

Allen Chastanet: John Compton Redux?
===============================

Newsflash Saint Lucia, Allen Chastanet is not your typical spoilt previleged trust-fund baby. He is not the detached, self-absorbed, uninformed, disinterested, accidental Saint Lucian whizzing by in a luxury car on his way to Hewannorra to catch the next plane to Cancun, Milan, Lisbon, or London for business or pleasure. Rather he is now a full fledged member of our arrogant, unispiring, previleged, and entitled political class masquerading as our "Moses".

Therefore, the slings, venom, and dog whistles directed at him from the other side are all in a days work for a Saint Lucian politican, except that he will get much more and of a different kind because he is viewed as an interloper. Local politics should not be his preserve.

Damn it he's already a member of the "local white" monied class couldn't he leave the one avenue to riches we have to "us"? This is what I have been hearing from the time he stepped into the arena.

At any rate last Sunday he became the undisputed political leader of of the beleageured United Workers Party. He secured this position, at least in the period leading up to the next elections, by a clear victory over his "esteemed" colleague, Dr. Claudius Preville. The party's delegates were not swayed by the youthful enthusiasm of Preville so they opted for the more seasoned veteran in comparison.

Seasoned in the sense that he has served in corporate governance, has established his enterpreneurial bona fides, has public governance experience, and has had the experience of mounting a brusing political campaign. Lamentably, one commonality in all these positions is that he did not distinguish himself.

However, previous and persistent failings must never deter one from pursuing their dreams. Barack Obama lost a few elections for various political offices before he won his senate seat and subsequently his bid for President of the United States and the big prize.

One thing I can say about Mr. Chastanet, without fear of equivocation, is that he is the personification of audacity. He has that in spades and is not afraid to expend it. He saw a leadership vacuum in the UWP and he profitted the opportunity.

Cont...

Anonymous said...

Cont...

This is a man who is sure of himself as a big fish in a small pond, and has demonstrated a propensity to splash around and cause waves in that pond. In other words he can throw his weight around in the fashion of a Maximum Leader. Ask Richard Frederick he'll tell you. And the way the Leader of the Opposition contorts herelf into a pretzel in answering questions in the public domain in deference to him is telling.

The problem with Mr. Chastanet is that he overestimates and overstates his abilities. To some he utilizes the trappings of privilege to emit a false sense of bravado and perspicacity. This is why he was able to finagle himself to one step away from the mother lode, the grand prize, the ultimate job.

In case you might have not noticed, Mr. Chastanet is an astute student of the national psyche. He learnt from the master himself - the late Sir John G.M. Compton. Small wonder he invokes his name at the drop of a hat. He has positioned himself in the party as the ultimate Comptonista. Whether that can translate to some kind of credibility on the wider scale is the million dollar question.

While he may secretly habour fears of not being successful at the next general elections, publicly he will put on a commanding performance. He knows that the last elections was decided by less than ten votes in the two northern constituencies which can now be confidently designated as "toss-up" seats. Two solid candidates and it's "any given elections" - to borrow a phrase from the National Football League which in effect means that any team can upset another on any Sunday sometimes just by showing up. Not a bad place to be for a political upstart if you ask me.

My fear is that should such a possibility materialize he will behave just like the dog who chased and caught the proverbial car and is bilwidered about what to do next. Hasn't Saint Lucia been bedeviled enough by lack lustre, uninspiring, and opportunistic leadership?

Anonymous said...

Well said previous Peter Thomas. Can any body actually see Allen winning in 2016? Does any one actually not think that Gale, King etc are not secretly hoping that Allen will loose ? Its in their benefit that he does not win. They know with Allen as a UWP Prime Minister, he will treat them like children. He will be interfering in their ministries morning noon and night. Come on St. Lucia the dagger to his ambitions are in the hands of those closest to him.

Anonymous said...

Chastenet is not even "the least dirty shirt" in UWP's garden of buried skeletons. If Saint Lucians ever grow to want real change the members of the last but very Cabinet must be dumped first. I am not voting for either of these parties.

I prefer to waste my vote on LPM. A vote for either SLP or UWP would make me a really dumb ass.

Anonymous said...

VOTE FOR ME AND I WILL SET YOUY FREE,
VOTE FOR ME AND I WILL SET YOU FREE FROM ALL YOUR PROBLEMS
I AM A SMELLY POLITICAN WHO COMES AROUND EVERY FIVE YEARS FOR ELECTIONS YES I AM A SMELLY POLITICANS WHO HAS COMMITED FRAUD AND HAVE EATEN ALL THE PUBLE FUNDS, SO VOTE FOR ME, ONCE EVERY FIVE YEARS, SO I CAN OWN A BIG HOUSE AND DRIVE AROUND IN A MERCEDES BENZ, VOTE FOR ME YOUR SMELLY POLITICAN SO I CAN EAT MORE STATE FUNDS WHILES YOU SUFFER IN THE GHETTO`S AND YOU LITTLE PLYWOOD SHAKES, VOTE FOR ME YOUR SMELLY POLITICANS !!!

AN AMERICAN DIPLOMATE