Vybz Kartel’s presence in SVG an act of ‘mercy’, PM says

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves says the presence in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) of Jamaican dance hall artiste Vybz Kartel, who was recently released from prison after 13 years in connection with a murder charge, is a personal act of mercy.

There has been much speculation about the presence in SVG of the artiste who has said that he has Graves’ disease, also known as hyperthyroidism.

Several videos of the 48-year-old artiste, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, have appeared on social media since he arrived at Argyle International Airport on board a private jet on Friday.

One of the videos shows the artiste seated at a dining table along with Gonsalves and his wife, Eloise Gonsalves, and other people, apparently at the Official Residence of the Prime Minister.

Gonsalves said on NBC Radio on Wednesday that he had spoken about Kartel’s presence in SVG on a radio show in Jamaica.

In his comments on NBC Radio, Gonsalves, who, like Kartel uses the moniker “World Boss”, said he received a telephone call from Isat Buchanan, the artiste’s lawyer, “a couple of weeks ago”.

“…  he called me and said that he understood that we have experts here in the field of dealing with the issue of Graves’ disease, hypothyroidism, which is the condition publicly everybody knows that Mr. Kartel, Mr. Palmer suffers from…”

The prime minister said Buchanan asked whether or not it would be appropriate for Kartel to travel to SVG “to see these experts in this field.

“So, I told him that, in fact, we do have a high-quality specialist, endocrinologist, a Cuban with a good supportive team, including specialists in internal medicine and I named the doctor J who is of Indian descent and who is also a teaching professor at one of the universities here, medical schools.”

The prime minister said the nation’s other internal medicine specialists include Dr. Reisha Twana Browne-Caesar, wife of Agriculture Minister, Saboto Caesar.

He said these specialists have good supportive staff and a sufficiency of investigative tools.

“I think the understanding about what we had was probably conveyed by Marlon Samuels, whom I’ve known from the days of West Indies cricket …” Gonsalves said of the Jamaican batsman, adding that Samuels had visited SVG to show solidarity after the impact of Hurricane Beryl on July 1.

“And immediately I was prompted to say, ‘Yes, we can facilitate him.’ Naturally, the government is not spending any money for Mr. Kartel, Mr. Palmer, Vybz Kartel to be here staying,” Gonsalves said.

“I mean, we’re facilitating, because the impulse came from a simple word called mercy. Somebody who is in need is reaching out for help.”

He said Buchanan put Kartel on the phone.

“And of course, he came on jovial, as usual, bantering… He happy to talk to the political world boss. Everyone knew he had been presented as the dance hall world boss.”

Gonsalves said that Kartel then told him something “which had a responsive call immediately.

Kartel has child with Vincy roots

“He said he has a child with a woman whose mother is from St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” Gonsalves said, adding that he knows the woman, who is from the Cabral family, and her extended family.

“But my impulse was confirmed by his connection to the Cabrals. The Lord works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. But I begin with the word because I was telling instinctively, I told his lawyer, yes, we’ll facilitate because of mercy, is in my DNA. It’s a noise in the blood, it’s an echo in the bone.”

Gonsalves said he learnt about mercy “from the time I’ve been suckling at my mother’s breast; I learnt it in the family; I learned it in school; I learned it in church; I learned it from the elders in the community. It’s deep in me,” he said.

The prime minister said he later learnt the fullness of mercy when he read in the Bible book of Micah that the Lord required the prophet “to do justly, to have mercy and to walk humbly with our God”.

He further said he also learnt about mercy when he acted in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” when he was an 11-year-old student in Colonarie.

Gonsalves also cited the parables of Matter 25 about separating the sheep from the goat.

“… And on the day itself of the judgment, there’re several questions which come to the fore in terms of inheritance in the kingdom,” the prime minister said.

“For I was hungry and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me, you helped me, and I was in prison, and you came on to me. You that’s the impulse; not complicated.”

Possible public response played no role

Gonsalves said the Jamaican journalist told him that some people had applauded his actions while others had criticised him.

“I didn’t make any of those considerations about who going think this or who going think that,” the prime minister said, adding that the parable he quoted “describes acts of mercy, which all of us can do every day.

“And many of us do, if not every day, certainly from time to time on an ongoing basis. These acts of mercy do not depend on wealth. Doesn’t depend on ability or intelligence. They are simple acts, freely given and freely received.”

He said no one can reasonably neglect to help those who are “in deep need, and we cannot hand over that responsibility.

“I can’t say, ‘Well, I have to consult the Cabinet. I have to consult the permanent secretary. I have to consult [this or that individual], I have to consult an NGO. This is personal, that you are asked to do something.’”

The prime minister noted, however, that he is part of a government.

“… and, naturally, for the facilitation, the chief medical officer has to be asked and inquired about the availability and the readiness. And that was forthcoming.”

Helping ‘a convicted criminal’

Gonsalves said the journalist told him that he was helping “a convicted criminal”.

“I say he was a convicted criminal, but the highest court in the land, they have freed him,” said Gonsalves, a lawyer, adding, “The reason why he is out is that he’s deemed not guilty for the crime that he is charged with.

“So, factually, for that offence, he is not guilty, …” the prime minister further said, noting that every accused person is presumed to be innocent.

“In order to bring us guilty, you have to provide evidence before a fair tribunal. And the highest courts judged that the process wasn’t fair. Whatever the details, that’s the conclusion broadly.

“But I pointed out that even if he were in prison, if you could help, if somebody else could help, I could help you, we are enjoined to go there and see him … like we go and see friends, family and others in prison…”

He said the government spent a lot of money to help a man who was convicted of a heinous murder recover from his illness.

“Subsequently, sometime after, he died, when the good Lord was ready for him,” Gonsalves said.

He said his government also spent US$150,000 to provide healthcare in Trinidad for a Vincentian who would have died had they not received a specialist operation on the brain.

Gonsalves’ Unity Labour Party is constitutionally required to face the electorate by February 2026 in a bid for a sixth consecutive five-year term in office.

He said the Jamaican journalist had asked him whether he had made arrangements for Kartel to help him “with any elections or anything like that…

“I said, ‘No. That’s why I asked you not to analyse it.’ I said, ‘I won five elections on the run, on the trot, without any involvement from Mr. Palmer. And I shall win the sixth encounter, I believe, on a canter with or without Mr. Palmer’s assistance’,” Gonsalves said.