Breaking Gonsalves’ spell on our country

By *Jomo Sanga Thomas

(“Plain Talk” April 25, 2025)

With the calamitous development at the “modern” port, the uptick in crime/homicides, the insatiable appetite of the Gonsalves regime to drown the nation’s aspiration in debt and the ULP’s autocratic, undemocratic attempt to gerrymander and steal the Southern Grenadines seat in upcoming general elections, citizens should demand immediate action that addresses issues of national importance. We are in the throes of a 2001 moment. Sadly, few, including the official opposition, recognise it.

In 2001, the population made a sharp and decisive decision to remove the New Democratic Party from power. The writing was indeed on the cards following the 1998 elections, but by the middle of 2020, citizens resolved that enough was enough. They simply waited for the hour. Others were less patient and pressed home the advantage with the “road block revolution”, thus cutting short the NDP’s fourth term by two and a half years.

In this current situation, parliamentary and legal action are urgently needed. Such actions are certain to expose the ULP as a danger to our democracy and a brake on our nation’s further development, thus bringing the clamour for change into laser focus. 

For the remaining months before the next elections, the parliamentary opposition owes it to the nation to call meetings of the Public Accounts Committee, a constitutional provision allowing the parliament to hear from leading state functionaries on matters of national importance. Imagine sessions where Derry Williams of the BoSVG is called to explain discrepancies in government borrowing, Lenski Douglas at the port to explain in details the worrying developments there, the Auditor General speaking of her findings and inability to do more because of inadequate staffing and funding and the director of the statistical units explaining why figures on deaths and births were made state secrets between 2021 and 2024.
Imagine further that the police high command was summoned to answer probing questions about crime and the safety of the citizenry, permanent secretaries were quizzed about deficiencies, and BRAGSA officials were asked to explain why the schools are in such bad condition, why the air conditioning system in public buildings so often malfunctions, and why mould is seemingly pervasive at our schools, courts, and ministries. Yes, these are all money matters.

We can expect the governing ULP to frustrate or obstruct the proceedings. If and when they do, a media advisory should inform the nation of the ULP’s undemocratic and unconstitutional posture. 

If there is a moment when the opposition should table a constitutional motion of no confidence, that time is now. Yours truly’s rookie error in 2018, which allowed the ruling party to use its majority and subvert the constitution by amending the vote of no confidence into a vote of confidence, was widely condemned then and will create an even more rancorous situation now.  

There are far more issues now than ever before that need ventilation in Parliament as in the public domain: crime and violence, the brazen occurrence of shootings that result in serious injury and death in public places, unemployment, poverty, growing national debt, the “modern” port, hopelessness and helplessness among a growing section of the population, the blatant wastage of the national resources as government embarks on a give away of national resources with the sole intent of buying its way to the another term in government and official corruption.

A no-confidence motion will put Speaker Rochelle Forde in an unenviable position. She could learn from the 2018 debacle, stand firm, and rule that a vote of no confidence motion is a constitutional provision that must be allowed and voted up or down, but cannot be amended, thus forestalling debate on the opposition’s motion. Or she can buckle under the weight of party solidarity and Gonsalves’ unrelenting pressure to thwart the debate and permanently sully her reputation for democratic best practices and good governance.

Another vital pressure point is for a constitutional motion challenging how the government intends to conduct the next general elections. The constituencies to watch are North Windward and Southern Grenadines. North Windward may witness a massive shifting of voters from North Central Windward. 

But the South Grenadines is the constituency where a monumental constitutional travesty is about to occur. After Hurricane Beryl, a significant section of the population living on Union Island was forced to move. Most of their homes were severely damaged or destroyed, and many came to live and work on the mainland. 

Many masons, carpenters, and labourers were enlisted to rebuild and rehabilitate the Southern Grenadines. According to the Supervisor of Elections, they will be allowed to vote there. Interestingly, the election supervisor claims that new voters, particularly young voters, must return to the disaster zone to register to vote. Those temporarily resident on the mainland may be compelled to return to the hurricane-ravaged Southern Grenadines to cast their vote.

As Justice Gerhardt Wallbank said in the Vaccine Mandate Case, the Constitution remains in full effect even when the government refuses to engage the emergency powers outlined in section 17 of the Constitution. Therefore, how can a government that has never had a chance to win either of the Grenadines’ seats now salivate over the possibility of winning there? Only undemocratic and illegal machinations explain this saga.

In addition to the Representation of the People’s Act, the Constitution, emergency powers, and the Boundaries Commission are all in play here. Any notion that only the Representation of the People’s Act governs the situation in the Southern Grenadines is misinformed, ill-advised, unlawful, ultra vires and unconstitutional. It amounts to gerrymandering on the part of the government. The government’s sinister plot is to slow the rehab process so that people may be reluctant to return to the scene of trauma, with the hope that their candidate may just snag a narrow victory. Such a stratagem must not be allowed to stand. Therefore, an urgent appeal should be made to the court to block this assault on our good governance and democratic best practices.

As the ULP approaches the next elections, its most important asset is its control of the national purse. It does not have a convincing narrative. The disgusting arrogance and pomposity of its leader are increasingly laid bare before the voting public. More are recoiling from a leader and party that have outlived their usefulness.

The people must exercise their power and break Gonsalves’ spell over the country.

*Jomo Sanga Thomas is a lawyer, journalist, social commentator and a former Speaker of the House of Assembly in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

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