As the rhythms and drums of another carnival beat to rouse Vincentians from the drudgery of everyday life, it would appear that a different kind of music is even more powerful. The stirrings of the election bell just before it is rung have managed to awaken even the elusive of Chevonne Stewart from the coma in which she lay after the passage of Hurricane Beryl.
With face and feet newly washed and with a basket full of goodies, the ULP has presented her to the people of the Southern Grenadines as a saviour.
Unfortunately, this saviour that we have been given needs saving herself. As a political observer, I have remained silent for a long time attempting to observe Ms Stewart in action, wanting to form my own opinion of her based on first-hand acquired facts rather than the fiction derived from hysteria surrounding a new candidate or foxes sucking sour grapes.
Stewart has been granted full access to the ULP machinery. She has been placed in a position of power where, for all intents and purposes, people should be likely to feel indebted to her for her assistance to them in the recovery process. In the event that they forget, it is a known fact that people seeking assistance are often told by people acting in her name, “If we give you this, you know what you have to do”.
With all this weight behind her, Stewart is primed for a successful first-time political run. The missing ingredient to this tried-and-true political method, however, is that the ULP machinery has not taken into account that the people of the Southern Grenadines are of different stock than those from mainland St. Vincent. The tools employed on St. Vincent may not necessarily be of a kind which will be successful in the Southern Grenadines. We are talking about a people accustomed to being ignored; a people for whom resilience and self-reliance are a part of their DNA instead of mere buzzwords; a people who grew up hearing, “Don’t take nothing from nobody.”
Coupled with this, Stewart is the candidate, wholly lacking in presence, charisma, connection to and love for the people of this stretch of SVG It may be quite fair to say that Stewart is the least impactful candidate the ULP has proffered to the people of the Southern Grenadines. As a relatively new face on the ground, Stewart has been failing in the most basic of areas; getting to know the people. We the people may know of you, but by failing to offer yourself to us to get to know you, is a sure way to ensure that your defeat at the poles is even worse than the four-time consecutive trouncing of Edwin Snagg.
People have already started wondering if Stewart thinks she’s “better than” them, or have expressed concerns about throw-away statements about “looking for a husband”.
The ULP is now looking to the Southern Grenadines as a potential crutch given waning support on mainland St. Vincent. For this crutch to materialise, Stewart needs to understand that she needs to gain new votes; and to gain new votes she needs to appeal to the people by showing that she is of the people.
As it stands, Stewart’s aloofness and unwillingness to climb down from her high horse tucked beneath the apparently protective arms of party supporters is nothing but an insult to the people of the Southern Grenadines. Make no mistake, the people of the Southern Grenadines are not easily fooled or readily forgiving.
S. Smith
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