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General Election in St. Vincent Next Week – Oh! Leave it out Comrade; Enough is Enough

Submitted by Nathan ‘Jolly’ Green A written reply to IWitness story Gonsalves says NDP strategists cyber spying, tapping phone Comrade, have you gone completely mad? Are you starting to imagine things, are there people peering in your bedroom windows while you are sleeping? Are your room and telephones bugged? Since the 1970’s the comrade has…

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Submitted by Nathan ‘Jolly’ Green

A written reply to IWitness story

Gonsalves says NDP strategists cyber spying, tapping phone

Comrade, have you gone completely mad? Are you starting to imagine things, are there people peering in your bedroom windows while you are sleeping? Are your room and telephones bugged?

Since the 1970’s the comrade has during times of personal stress claimed people are trying to kill him. He has made such claims several times since he has been PM even.

Paranoid schizophrenia, or schizophrenia with paranoia as doctors now call it, is the most common example of this kind of behaviour.

Schizophrenia is a kind of psychosis, which means your mind does not agree with reality. It affects how you think and behave. This can show up in different ways and at different times, even in the same person.

People with paranoid delusions are unreasonably suspicious of others.

Obesity is a common problem for people with schizophrenia, with an estimated 40-60% of this population being obese or overweight. Obesity among the mentally ill may contribute to adverse medical and psychological consequences as well as medication non-compliance and lower quality and enjoyment of life.

2011 The St Lucia Star https://stluciastar.com/plot-to-kill-svg-pm/

2011 https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/regional/opposition-denies-involvement-in-plot-to-kill-st-vincent-pm/

2014 https://www.iwnsvg.com/2014/07/18/i-shall-smoke-them-out-pm-says-of-internet-crazies/

Calypsonian charged with threatening to kill PM Gonsalves, family

What I have noticed is that whenever there is a stressful situation, he makes strange unfounded and unprovable claims.

1979, he was banned from Barbados, he claimed death threats.

Then before or around the time of almost every election, he makes strange claims, also each time he has been accused of rape or sexual assault, he starts acting weird again.

The SVG telephone exchange is in the grounds of Arnos Vale old airport. It has a room where the SVG police specialist technicians monitor phone calls and internet. Only they can listen to our phone calls, only they have the ability and the facility to tap our phones. Do they do that? Well, I suppose if they are there and that is their job, yes, they do. The comrade knows that, so where else can NDP illegal phone tappers listen to telephones? Only the ULP government and their political police have the facilities for that.

Gonsalves is running scared he is losing his grip on the people who he has so long fed and nurtured with a little money and some building materials. The NDP is way out front, so expect the comrade to invent all sorts of nonsense. He has already used the sympathy card with his family’s illnesses and ailments.

Watch out for assassination threats, accusations of people using nasty tactics to win the elections. All these types of silliness will be used at this extremely stressful time for the comrade.

The people have their own eyes and can see what is going on, the rush to repair roads, paint buildings, to give money for whatever cause, all that lumber, cement and galvanize delivered to the supporters. Nothing for four years then a sudden gush.

People have had enough, they see how things work now, they watched and listened to the Yugge Farrell affairs. They have suffered not just undrivable roads, but un-walkable roads: no work or employment, small wages with no prospects. Wage slavery and mental slavery, whilst the ruling dynastical family ride in big cars wear expensive clothes. Travel around the world at a whim. Own the jobs, police, and judiciary, control the finances. Under the ULP administration, people see tame contactors getting contracts unjustly while others like the Balcomes are punished for speaking out. Whole families and their workforces destroyed Bigger Bigs, the De Freitas’s, and so many more. Communist-style unjust grabbing of people’s property, it is all happening, and we are expected not to see it, or to mention it.

Well, it is over comrade, we want you to leave government, take your family and dynasty with you, and whilst you are at it take your unelectable cousin with you as well.

What is a real shame is that the original publisher refuses to publish my replies, such a shame for history.

13 responses to “General Election in St. Vincent Next Week – Oh! Leave it out Comrade; Enough is Enough”

  1. bimjim Avatar
    bimjim

    Fat Ralph is a disgusting pig who travels the world on dubious diplomatic missions arranging all kinds of dubious and non-existent deals so he can charge it all back to the poor taxpayer of St. Vincent. He says he does not own One Caribbean airline, yet we now know that it is in the name of one of his sons, and he has placed his lawyer on the Board to ensure it does what he wants it to do.

    There is a rumour that Fat Ralph skimmed over US$100 million off the Argyle Airport construction, which is why all the equipment – including fire engines – was bought up front and left to rust in the salt air until the terminal was complete and the airport opened.

    Fat Ralph treats his own people with disdain, yet he came to Barbados and made a valuable presentation to some Bajan schoolchildren… what is wrong with his own people that he has to honour the children of another nation and not his own?

    Fat Ralph rules with an iron fist in St. Vincent, not tolerating opposition of any kind, daily uttering threats of legal action against anyone who speaks the truth in HIS country.

    Truly, time for Fat Ralph to be shoved to the back shelf, made as irrelevant as he has made “Sonny” Mitchell.

    OUT, FAT RUDE TRUMPISH DICTATOR LARDASS.

  2. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Well, that makes two of you! I hope you both get your wish. No man should be in office for so long and still his country is in the doldrums.

    And it looks like he is trying to create a dynasty. Always a dangerous thing.

  3. Tony Avatar
    Tony

    St. Vincent

    Ralph dances to the sounds of Salsa, Reggaeton and Samba. The choice music of his parents and compadres…The word calypso/soca doesn’t exists in his vocabulary….He plays an enchanting diplomatic fiddle that echos off the heads of Eastern Caribbean Leaders
    while being empathetic to their reachable needs?

  4. David Avatar
    David

    Five-star general?
    Gonsalves could reach the political equivalent if re-elected in St Vincent and the Grenadines
    By Peter Wickham
    The title of this article is borrowed from one of the Unity Labour Party’s (ULP) campaign slogans and should not be interpreted as an assertion, but a suggestion that needs to be unpacked on the eve of St Vincent and the Grenadines’ tenth election since independence.
    The political equivalent of a five-star general is a leader who would have achieved the highest level of decoration within the political sphere. The association of the two in political discourse is quite ingenious as it reflects the rarity of such decoration along with the necessary experience required. Certainly, the word experience frontally addresses the suggestion that Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves could be exhausted or, worse yet, that the people could be exhausted with him. Instead, this strategy presupposes that for the “battle ahead” the country needs to call on a rare and uniquely talented resource to lead the fight.
    Would become the first
    If we agree that a five-star general (of the political variety) is a prime minister who has won five consecutive elections, then Gonsalves would become the region’s first if he emerges victorious on Thursday. This assertion speaks both to the contemporary and historic context since Gonsalves is already the longest serving (continuous) prime minister in the region and has already won four consecutive elections, as did Prime Ministers Skerrit and Douglas. In theory, Skerrit could yet achieve five-star status; however, Douglas cannot as he failed in his 2015 bid to hold on to government.
    Historically, there have been some interesting comparisons that rise to the level of three-star generals and noteworthy is Vere C. Bird, whose Antigua Labour Party secured five consecutive victories between 1976 and 1999. However, those victories spanned the pre-and post-independence period, with V.C. Bird being responsible for only three victories and Lester Bird taking the other two.
    There is also the case of Dr Eric Williams in Trinidad and Tobago, who held leadership posts for a total of 25 years, which would technically qualify him for five-star general status. However, his first three were as chief minister, the second two as premier (with a brief hiatus when Trinidad and Tobago came under the Federation) and the final 19 as prime minister when he secured three victories (1966, 1971 and 1976).
    Having established the absence of a precedent, it is important to reflect on the contemporary reality which will dictate its possibility. The reality is that five consecutive terms have not yet been realised because the physical challenges make such an occurrence unlikely. Most leaders become prime minister in their 40s or 50s and by this time the ravages of office will make it challenging to survive 25 years in such a post. Therefore, the most likely prospects to survive would be the leaders who come to office “accidentally” by way of the death of one leader or, as in the case of Skerrit, two.
    Weak or disorganised opposition
    That said, two models have emerged which facilitated success by Caribbean leaders who succeeded on three or four consecutive occasions. Both models reflect a weak or disorganised opposition characterised by a comparatively less attractive leader or multiple leaders of two or more opposition parties. These parties/leaders compete with one another and pave the way for the more organised or attractive leader to prevail.
    This base facilitates a political environment where the successful leader can either dominate the environment from inception, as was the case in Antigua and Trinidad, or impact positively on the political conversation subsequent to the first election, as happened in St Kitts and Dominica.
    Although this is an oversimplification, it helps to make the point and to distinguish the Gonsalves/ ULP tenure which, if successful, will establish a new model for multiple consecutive victories. Gonsalves and the ULP first prevailed in 2001 with 12 seats and 57 per cent support and held those seats in 2005, although suffering a marginal negative swing. In 2010, Gonsalves lost seats but retained a majority
    of one and retained this majority on a positive swing in 2015. Effectively, the Gonsalves model has been one of “controlled decline” which would normally make him an unlikely candidate for five consecutive victories.
    Tips the scale
    However, there is another peculiarity which tips the scale in Gonsalves’ favour and this is the current configuration that makes it easier for him to prevail. The conversion of the ULP’s weakest seat requires a – three per cent swing or the loss of 250 plus votes, while the NDP’s weakest will capitulate on a +0.1 per cent swing and a seven-vote conversion.
    In addition, a swing similar to that which the ULP achieved in 2015 (+1 per cent) would add a further two seats to the ULP’s complement which would be remarkable in a fifth term, but proximate to that which Skerrit accomplished in 2019.
    It is therefore against this electoral background, along with the broader environmental factors which currently favour incumbents, that one is inclined to think that Gonsalves is likely to become this region’s first five-star general on Thursday.
    Peter W. Wickham is a political consultant and a director of Caribbean Development Research Services (CADRES).

  5. Pachamama Avatar
    Pachamama

    David

    We hear that the people of Saint Lucia have given a second life to Gabby’s “tha beach is mine” in response to a decadent government’s plans to sell a beach.

    We have long warned that countries in the Caribbean are in danger of selling off sovereignty for pottage.

    We had estimated that they will, sooner or later, be continuing such actions, making them more widespread. Expect companies like Google to brand these socalled independent countries soon.

    Neoliberal capitalism can go no further.

  6. David Avatar
    David

    @Pacha

    Many of the islands are close or have exceeded borrowing limits to support an unsustainable lifestyle.

  7. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    @Pacha
    is this at Cabot or elsewhere?

  8. Artaxerxes Avatar
    Artaxerxes

    Should the ‘Comrade’ win an unpresidented fifth consecutive term, I hope someone has ‘smelling salts’ available for Jolly Green.

  9. Artaxerxes Avatar
    Artaxerxes

    ‘Comrade’ Ralph has won a historic fifth term in SVG.

    I know Mr. Green won’t be too ‘Jolly’ after discovering he has to endure FIVE (5) MORE YEARS of Ralphie.

  10. David Avatar
    David

    It will be interesting to read some deep analysis as to why Gonsales has been able to serve so long despite the may controversies along the way. More interesting will be if his son decides to launch a dynasty.

    Historic win for Gonsalves
    KINGSTOWN – Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves created history in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) when he led his ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) to a comfortable fifth consecutive victory in the general elections on Thursday.
    Preliminary figures released here by the Electoral Office showed that the ULP had won nine of the 15 seats in the Parliament, an increase of three seats on the previous one seat majority he had enjoyed in the last two general elections. It is the first time that a political party has won five consecutive general elections here.
    Gonsalves, 74, won his North Central Windward seat he has been representing since 2001, brushing aside the two other candidates in Chieftain Neptune of the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) and Kadmiel McFee of the CVG Green Party.
    In a message posted on his Facebook page, Gonsalves thanked voters for returning the ULP to power.
    “It’s celebration time. It is five in they tail,” he wrote,” as party supporters gathered here for the celebration Today, the people of St Vincent & the Grenadines embraced the politics of “Lifting SVG Higher. They embraced our progressive agenda for the future by returning us to government.
    “I am humbled and honoured that the people of St Vincent & the Grenadines embraced our bold vision for the future and rejected the politics of hate, backwardsness and colonialism.
    “We ask Vincentians to celebrate this victory in peace and maturity. Now is the time to come together as one nation to address our developmental challenges and move forward to uplift our nation and it’s people,” Gonsalves added.
    NDP leader Dr Godwin Friday, 61, who led the party into a general election for the first time, easily retained the Northern Grenadines seat he has represented in Parliament since 2001. He polled 2 123 votes as against 458 for the ULP’s Carlos Williams.
    The NDP, as has been customary, swept the two seats on the sister isle of the Grenadines. The other seat, in the Southern Grenadines was won by Terrance Ollivierre, who defeated Edwin Snagg by a margin of 1153 to 559.
    Yesterday, regional political scientist and commentator, Peter Wickham, said the result was an “historic first in the region”.
    “He (Gonsalves) has outdone former St Kitts-Nevis prime minister Dr Denzil Douglas, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and even P.J. Patterson in Jamaica. So it is something significant,” Wickham said on the state-owned NBC Radio here. (CMC)

  11. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “Neoliberal capitalism can go no further.”

    if the people on the islands don’t mobilize and stop with the nationalism and patriotism bullshit designed to stagnate and disenfranchise them and their offspring mentally, they are going to be STUCK in generational poverty and modern day slavery AGAIN….their repulsive small time small island trash leaders will be happy to be the permanent big obese fish in small ponds….dishing out corruption and keeping them trapped..

  12. David Avatar
    David

    Editorial

    Gonsalves’ mission

    ST VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves is a charismatic figure in Caribbean politics, who has achieved the distinctive record of five consecutive victories at the polls.
    This places him in the record books.
    The victory has also cemented his name as a household one in the Caribbean and he may be portrayed by many people, in and out of his homeland, as a political phenomenon.
    While the first-past-the-post brought victory for Dr Gonsalves and his Unity Labour Party (ULP), gaining nine of the 15 seats up for grabs last Thursday, the contest was not a Sunday evening stroll in the park.
    His political opponents seem incapable of finding his Achilles heel.
    Dr Gonsalves cannot overlook that the popular vote went to his opponents, the New Democratic Party led for the first time by Dr Godwin Friday. This may mean nothing in our Westminster parliamentary system for the winners and, more importantly, their supporters amongst the electorate, but it cannot be a comforting feeling for a ruling political party.
    The ULP administration will have to carefully look at its governing philosophy, since despite its track record of building an international airport and getting the smallest state to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council, many Vincentians are not buying into the party’s narrative.
    Prime Minister Gonsalves started out as a political outsider known for his radical leftist views whilst living and working in Barbados. He was someone who broke the rules, but followed his dream and made some sacrifices on his journey to the top. Once in the seat of power, he became a pragmatist.
    This is evident from the foreign policy he follows. He maintains a close relationship with Cuba and Venezuela while being one of fewer than a handful of Caribbean nations maintaining relations with Taipei over Beijing.
    This is in many ways an enigma, but it brings results.
    He should continue on an unpredictable path now that he has been re-elected.
    Even though part of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, Dr Gonsalves should reach out to build closer ties with Barbados.
    There are strategic socio-economic reasons to build on the very long and deep historic and stronger relations between the two states.
    There will be a need to have meaningful interlocking relations in the post-COVID-19 environment given the severe economic stress inflicted on both societies. There is an opportunity for closer relations between these two nations in trade, education, health, security matters, agriculture and fisheries and building out alternate energy and tourism ventures.
    Dr Gonsalves cannot hang on too long since he can easily move from being an asset to becoming a liability. Neither should he be obsessed only with political succession in his party and homeland, or building a dynasty, but rather in promoting a common vision.
    He has an opportunity to convince Barbados to join in a mission to develop a venture to the mutual benefit of the two nations.
    Congratulations to Prime Minister Gonsalves on his re-election.
    There will be a need to have meaningful interlocking relations in the post-COVID-19 environment given the severe economic stress inflicted on both societies.

  13. David Avatar
    David

    Friday: Crisis in St Vincent
    KINGSTOWN – President of the main Opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) Godwin Friday, says that “a crisis in governance” exists in St Vincent and the Grenadines following last week Thursday’s general elections, in which the Unity Labour Party (ULP) won nine of the 15 seats, but not the popular vote.
    Echoing words used by now Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves in 1998 – when a similar situation existed with the NDP in office and the ULP in opposition – Friday said the ULP had lost the moral authority to govern the country.
    “There is popular outpouring of frustration and dissatisfaction with the ULP and Dr Ralph Gonsalves. The people’s desire for change was heightened during the election campaign. Change from the oppressiveness, which is being experienced as a result of the past 19 years of rule under Gonsalves and the ULP,” Friday said in a national address.
    “We heard that call and will, with increased vigour and determination, work to bring about the change we need and that you voted for. Political change – that is, change in government – has been deferred, but it will not be indefinitely denied,” he said. Friday, who was elected to a fifth five-year term as the legislator for the Northern Grenadines, said the NDP would “spare no effort to bring about the necessary economic and social improvements we offered the people during the campaign, and now continue to hold out as the path to a brighter future”.
    He said the underlying condition driving the desire for change was that the Vincentian people “have been left in no doubt that the Gonsalves administration has become increasingly notorious for its subversion of constitutional government and the democratic process in our country.
    “And this is compounded by blatant nepotism and cronyism, and by the lack of transparency and lack of accountability in the conduct of our nation’s affairs.”
    This year’s general elections were Friday’s first as leader of the NDP, which lost for a fourth consecutive time, after being voted out of office in March 2001 after 17 years.
    (CMC)

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