Police respond as ULP’s ‘bedroom business’ gets antsy in Biabou

Officers from the Rapid Response Unit (“Black Squad”) — a tactical unit — of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force turned up at the Biabou Methodist School on Saturday as things got antsy during the ruling Unity Labour Party’s (ULP) selection of a candidate for South Windward for the next general election.

Members of the party who turned up hoping to cast a ballot for their preferred candidate came to realise that the wishes of the party’s leadership would trump all, and they would not get a chance to express their view.

And, as Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who is also political leader of the ULP, began a speech that would end with him asking the conference to endorse the candidate preferred by the ULP leadership, one person shouted that he was the cause of the confusion.

The event offered insights into how things are done inside the ULP, apparently with party members as rubber stamps for the leadership, under a thinly-veiled message of, “Give us what we want or we will veto your decision anyway.”

The candidate selection began with ULP Chairman Edwin Snagg commenting about the number of people who had attended the event.

He said he had asked the acting chairman of the party’s constituency group a few days earlier about whether there was enough space in the auditorium for the people attending the event.

“… I guess you misunderstood and misjudged the crowd,” Snagg said, adding that there were more people outside the hall than inside.

He noted that as ULP chairman, he presides over the “serious task” of the candidate selection, noting that for the ULP in South Windward, it was “not only … the changing of the guard, but it is also the transition”.

Snagg was referring to the fact that the ULP’s Frederick Stephenson, who has been representing the district since 2010, will not be seeking re-election.

“I find we sounding a little bit restless,” Snagg said as the chatter in the room intensified.

“Comrades, ah seeking your attention because this is a significant part of the history of this constituency that’s taking place now.”

Snagg explained the process, adding, “We will get from the constituency of South Windward a name that will go forward to the candidate selection committee.”

He said that the committee would forward that name to the central executive, which would then send it on to the national council for ratification.

However, rather than inviting each of the potential candidates to address the delegates, Snagg invited Gonsalves “to come and say a few words here now before we complete the thing”.

Party leader notes national council approves candidates

The ULP leader also noted the stages of the candidate selection, culminating in the ratification by the national council.

“The reason why this process is laid out in the constitution like this, you may put forward a name, and that is taken account of. But, remember, this is one constituency within the party, and therefore, the other organs of the party, right up to the level of the national council and the convention, will be the ones who would approve the state of candidates; because it’s a party.”

Gonsalves then went on to “say a few things about how we have arrived where we are”. However, before doing so, he said he would like “if anyone who is not a member of the party, give us in the next 15 or 20 minutes, some space for us to conduct our own internal business.

“We are very happy to have the press around, but this is now our business in our own home,” he said.

The school where the meeting was taking place is located near a public road and the amplification in the hall made it possible to hear from the road what was being said in the hall.

Gonsalves traced the history of the ULP, noting that he has been leading the party since December 1999 — for almost all of its existence.

He spoke of the promises he made then to force a general election in under five years and that the party would remain in office for at least a generation.

“The elections were called in 2001 and we won them. I also promise you that when we won that election, we will hold office for at least a generation,” Gonsalves said.

He interrupted himself, telling someone in the auditorium, “We’re having one meeting, comrade. It’s alright; it’s OK; one meeting we having at a time. Please. Please. Please.”

Gonsalves noted that the ULP won the 2001, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020 elections.

“… and we are serving now for more than a generation,” he said to applause, adding, “All the promises that I made to you, those promises politically, have all been fulfilled.”

‘I want us to be guided by a principle’

He said that part of the process to win a sixth term in office “is to have a candidate coming from here at this duly-constituted candidate selection conference, as the first step for a process which leads us to the confirmation of that candidate through the organs of the party.

“And, as always, I want us to be guided by a principle, the teaching laid down by a great man from the Caribbean,” he said and invoked Jamaican national hero Marcus Garvey.

“And Garvey said this in teaching to his people, to all of us for generations to come, … if you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go together, and by going together, we will go faster than if we go alone,” he told party supporters.

“When every two years, you elect me as your political leader, I have a responsibility which transcends the responsibility of any other member to the party leadership,” Gonsalves said, adding that as leader, he takes account of the more than 30,000 people who voted for the party.

“.. not for a small group, however important they are. For all of us in the party, I have to consider all who voted for the party, responsibly, and, I have to act in a mature manner. And, uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.

“It is my responsibility in circumstances like this to speak to you about what we have arrived at to put to you for your acceptance and your endorsement,” Gonsalves continued.

“And I ask just now that those who are not members of the party, and there may be some other individuals and journalists and so forth who are not members of the party, just give us a little while to deal with our business in our own bedroom.”

Other contenders asked to stand down

Gonsalves told the conference that when Stephenson decided not to contest the 2025 elections, “four excellent persons” came forward, namely Rochard “Pitbull” Ballah, Louis Daisely, Ashelle Morgan and Rodan John.

“And they were all canvassing,” Gonsalves said, adding that he called all four potential candidates together after a few months.

“You cause the confusion,” a woman shouted outside of the auditorium.

Gonsalves said he spoke to the four potential candidates together and then individually

“And I said, I don’t want to hear anybody pulling down one another, because is only one will end up and we all have to work together.’

“And I will say that overwhelmingly, the four of them behave admirably. There are some supporters, naturally, who will create some little dissension and dissonance. But the four of them, from all the reports that I received, behave admirably.”

Gonsalves said that he suggested to Ballah — a former senator — that he should drop out of the race.

“And he agreed. I also spoke with Louis, the same thing, and I gave him my reasons, and he agreed,” Gonsalves said.

“That’s my responsibility as the leader. I hear a lot of people talk and I talk when I have to talk, which is today.

“I asked each of them, ‘If you are not the candidate, who would you like to be the candidate?’ Louis, Pitbull and Ashelle told me that if they are not the candidate, they would support Rodan,” Gonsalves said to shouts.

He noted that this meant that John and Morgan remained as potential candidates.

“I continued to carry out investigation, and on the basis of the investigations, last week, at a duly constituted central executive meeting, I gave the central executive my own view, and I said, in my view, we should come here today to avoid any dissonance, any confusion, any bassa bassa, for us to agree on one person.

“And I indicated to the central executive the basis upon which I am going to make my suggestion, and the suggestion I made was that comrade Rodan John’s name should be the only name to come here,” he said to shouts.  

Morgan could have insisted on run-off

“Clearly, this judgment of mine would not have found favour with her and she could have insisted that we have a run-off here today,” he said to applause.

“But she did not insist. She said that, if that is the assessment that I brought, that is an assessment which she understands, as I’m the leader of the party, that she accepts. But naturally, she had been campaigning for eight months and has supporters, and she would have been pained and hurt, but I love her very much.”

Gonsalves said that Morgan — a lawyer and senator –”will have a role in the next government …”

He told the meeting that he and Daisley are related and that he went to school with Daisley’s older brothers.

“Ashelle has been closer to me in our work in Parliament than any of the other candidates, potential candidates, and she’s my very dear friend and comrade.

“… And Pitbull, as you know, I had earlier nominated as a senator. And he works closely with me as a communications officer at the office of the prime minister,” Gonsalves said of Ballah, who once lectured at the community college.

“The person I knew least personally of all the four potential candidates is the person who eventually, as political leader, I considered to recommend,” he said of John, a 35-year lecturer at the Community College, who is also pursuing a doctorate in Taiwan.

Gonsalves told party supporters that they will hear more about John’s “academic qualifications, work which he has done with the youth arm, Gaustaus and the like.

“So, I come to you, when the chairman puts the issue for your endorsement in the manner and in this process that I have outlined to you in our bedroom …”

He said that people who supported Daisley or Morgan “may not like how I came to the conclusion — or the conclusion, not necessarily how I came to it.

“And we need the support of Louis and Ashelle and Pitbull because in our father’s house, there are many rooms. … I come to you with honesty, with maturity and with great interest for continued unity within the ranks of the Unity Labour Party.

“I have absolutely no doubt that together, we will work. And if you agree with this recommendation to send forward to the candidate election committee, that we will elect Rodan John as the next parliamentary representative for South Windward. The matter will be put by the chairman of the party to you for your formal acceptance.”

When Snagg put John’s name to the conference, if there were any dissensions, they were drowned out by those shouting their support.

Daisley was absent from Saturday’s event, and Gonsalves said that he had been riding a bike and had fallen off.

However, residents of South Windward told iWitness News that they had seen Daisley out and about in the constituency on Saturday.