By *Jomo Thomas
No one must loosely and irresponsibly sit on someone else’s name, ridicule them and cause their existence to become a nightmare. It is for these reasons that we find great wisdom in the saying, “Ah go mek yo pay fo yo mouth.” Public officials deserve the same level of respect and protection against defamation. Still, their right must be balanced against the critically important principle that the public has a fundamental right to know.
We return to the issue because Opposition Leader Dr. Ralph Gonsalves threat to sue Luke Boyea of Hot 97 FM. Gonsalves is not defending his “good name” if anything good is left of it. He is desperately trying to close down debate and avoid scrutiny. The media owes it to the nation not to let him get away with this gambit. They must dig deep and expose every single suspicious engagement of the Gonsalves family and his close local and foreign associates. A diligent search may unearth enough to land several people in jail.
This is not a call for recklessness. It is a call for investigative journalism. The journalist and civil society, truth and change agents, may be our best last hope. Two Mondays ago, Governor General Stanley “Stalky” John presented his government’s legislative and policy agenda in his Throne Speech. This was immediately followed by Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday’s Budget Address. Neither man touched the much clamoured-for integrity and anti-corruption legislation in public offices. Absent as well from their addresses was any mention of a government’s commitment to order audits and investigations into the operations of the Gonsalves administration, such as PetroCaribe, Argyle International Airport, Kingstown port, National Lottery, as well as other areas where the previous government squandered millions of dollars.
There are defences to defamation. Prominent among them are truth, opinion or fair comment, qualified privilege and a lack of malice.
With these available defences, Plain Talk predicts that Gonsalves threat to sue Luke Boyea and Hot 97 will come to nought in much the same way threats in recent times fizzled like hot air from an ageing politician desperately trying to avoid strict scrutiny. The last thing he wants is to be told by an attorney general or a director of public prosecutions that he and his associates have a case to answer in the courts. He cannot be comfortable in light of the Feb. 4, 2026, conviction of Michael Missick, a former premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, on corruption charges.
Revealing, among the corruption charges found by the court, was that Missick collected a handsome US$1 million from the Sandals Resort chain in exchange for sweetheart deals that allowed Sandals to build a Beaches resort on the island. Of note was the judge’s rejection of the defence of political judgment and attempt to attract foreign direct investment.
It’s more than passing strange that Gonsalves, who boasted of controlling every square inch of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, frequently pleads innocence and lack of knowledge with things right under his nose. In a mealy-mouthed explanation on Wednesday, Gonsalves claimed not to know that his son, Storm, bought 95 acres of land on Bequia. Recall when Strom initially came under scrutiny for the purchase Gonsalves mourned, “Why don’t they leave the boy?”
Storm’s acquisition of 95 acres of land is of national importance. His father wrote to the lawyer for the landowners in 2017, expressing the government’s interest in the land. On Wednesday, Gonsalves said the owner’s lawyer stated at the time that she was not selling. This statement is nonsensical and should be rejected by anyone with common sense. Our Constitution provides for compulsory acquisition.
The only requirement is that the government pay a fair market rate. Therefore, the owner’s lawyer, an adept land law expert if there was ever one in SVG, must have known that such a response would not wash with the government. The government could have compulsorily acquired the land if it so desired. This was the government expressing interest in the land, not Luke Boyea or Mansa Musa. Therefore, Gonsalves’ statement, along with a threat to sue, is an attempt at a cover-up.
Word on the ground is that another local business group had previously expressed interest in the land and made an offer higher than what Storm eventually paid. But note Gonsalves’ point about “Storm eventually purchased the land during the COVID-19 pandemic, a transaction I was not even aware of at the time.” Is COVID plandemic invoked to explain the lower purchase price? Was the actual purchase price declared to the income tax department? Was stamp duty paid on the purchase? Were other concessions offered to Storm?
Gonsalves always attempts to stifle debate whenever his government or family actions come into public view. Recall the defence of his family’s purchase of million-dollar luxury condos in Trinidad, along with a preferential lease deal for his daughter. Then he said they secured mortgages to purchase a house for his elderly mother-in-law, whose home in Dominica had been destroyed by a hurricane. Gonsalves’ wife’s mother has two grown sons living in Trinidad. Like Louise, we can safely assume they have grown children with homes of their own. Now, think of the options this elderly lady has if she chooses to visit Trinidad. Why would Storm and his mother need to buy two million-dollar apartments in the event the matriarch goes to Trinidad for a vacation? I could think of multiple ways to explain the purchases. For now, I leave readers with this: damn fool ah talk but not damn fool ah listen.
It was Gonsalves who implied impropriety at Cricket West Indies (CWI) and called for an audit and financial investigations. Dr. Kishore Shallow was too deep for him. He wanted to torpedo his electoral chances. He wanted the entire nation to know that the communist Chinese were paying a short man and his partner to spread falsehoods against his government. “If you say my government is corrupt, I will sue you,” Gonsalves warned last year. It is a classic tactic used by those who desperately want to deflect the glare of publicity.
Plain Talk is of the considered opinion that a deep dive into Gonsalves’ 25-year misrule will not only uncover evidence of corrupt practices but also be enough to ground charges of misbehaviour in public office. We are only at the tip of the iceberg.
*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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