The response to my last article has been overwhelming with scores of positive comments from readers both locally and abroad. One young reader asked, “How can I see that far?”
I first explained to him that voting patterns in Grenada are volatile, and the electorate is very impatient. I told him the four constituencies in St. Andrew’s, two in St. Patrick’s and St. John can be considered marginal constituencies where the margin of victory is small.
I said to the young man that the social and economic fabric of those constituencies are heavily influenced by plantation agriculture, Gairyism, the decline in agriculture, and the resultant negative impact on the rural economy, high levels of vulnerability, and unemployment in particular among young people.
I told the young man that the wisdom of this old man came from my understanding and knowledge of the historical, social, and economic reality of the country and the sagacity I developed over my long years of experience.
After explaining the context to the young man, I said to him: The government inherited a badly broken and demoralised public service riddled with corruption, nepotism, and political interference.
Prior to the elections, public servants were not only hopeful that an NDC government would adhere to the ruling of the Court and pay the pension, they were filled with optimism that if voted into power they will seek to introduce comprehensive reforms to fix the broken systems within the service.
After the election victory by the NDC, public servants in particular at the mid-level became excited and were willing to provide information on centers of corruption and the facilitators within the service. They were ignored by the transition teams set up in the various ministries to facilitate the smooth transfer of power to the incoming government.
These young public servants became concerned when they observed how sycophants of the defeated regime were allowed to craftily work their way into favour by controlling the flow of information to make them appear indispensable. They have now become more demoralised and cynical as the nepotism and corruption that permeated through the service during the previous government seemingly continues unabated.
The state of the service requires experienced and knowledgeable senior leadership along with a strong will by the government to undertake the necessary reforms. This would include requesting technical assistance from partner countries with well-developed public services such as the United Kingdom to help the reform effort.
Unfortunately, the new government has yet to take bold moves to seek technical assistance from development partners to help them prepare a comprehensive reform program. Instead, they appear to be pursuing a minimalist approach that maintains the status quo shifting around sycophant senior managers and making minor changes here and there.
Public servants have become more disgruntled and cynical as they see the culture of corruption and nepotism continue unabated while they have to work in toxic working conditions. These public officers come from families and villages all over the country including the constituencies mentioned earlier.
In the absence of favourable economic and social conditions, cynicism can lead to skepticism and disillusionment. Although the island has recorded increased economic growth coming out of the pandemic conditions continue to be difficult for large sections of the population, in particular the poor and vulnerable.
The recent appointments to the senior management board, conversations over the decision regarding the launch of the fiftieth independence celebration, and national heroes day have created a narrative that the government is not listening and doesn’t know what they are about.
I told the young man this is how the old man can see far ahead because if this narrative takes hold, it can spell trouble for the government going forward.
Young people are a heterogeneous group that can be considered a swing voting bloc. While there are some segments of this block that are loyal to both parties, there is a large swing constituent among them that potentially can support any of the two parties in a general election.
These voters are motivated by a range of opportunities from training and assistance in small businesses to whether they feel they have a stake in the country’s future. Since Hurricane Ivan development partners have facilitated a considerable amount of training for young people in areas such as hairdressing to agribusiness.
This training continued after the pandemic and a sizable number of them are now in need of financial assistance to start up small businesses. The CESS program was supposed to provide that assistance. However, it was badly managed, and not many young people, in particular those who supported the government and were expecting to receive assistance, got it.
This created some level of disappointment and discontent, which could lay the basis for young people to become disillusioned with the government. The lack of employment opportunities for young people, feeling of being left out of the development process, and general economic malaise across the country can create heightened anxiety among young people and cause further problems for the government.
Through this old man’s wisdom and sagacity, he can see far ahead that if the government doesn’t seek to address this problem, support from young people would decline.
I explained to the young man that the current state of the NDC party is not helping the cause one bit. The absence of “realpolitik” reflected by the poor level of political work on the ground, the failure of the party’s executive to undertake a rebuilding of the organs of the party and institute initiatives, such as an annual party conference, that could serve as a conduit for grassroots issues to feed into the government’s platform and strengthen the organisation is quite telling.
Many constituency groups are not functioning properly, and some chairpersons are frustrated with the lack of support and direction from the National Executive. While groups in the St. David’s and South St. George constituencies are doing work on the ground, the same can’t be said for most of the others, in particular in St. Patrick’s.
Some key foot soldiers who walked every nook and cranny of villages canvassing last elections are now demoralised and have become disenchanted with the way the party is functioning and the attitude of many constituency representatives and members of their executive.
In addition, longstanding loyalists are being shunned by the new recruits who joined the party leading up to the elections and are now wielding considerable power.
The apparent reliance of persons from a particular political background has resulted in emergence of the notion of “circling the wagon” to creep into the conversation as persons in some quarters have said dissenting opinions are being shut out during internal party dialogue.
This is a concern that many persons in the party have raised, which runs contrary to its motto, “Let the people’s voices be heard.”
Although the Prime Minister didn’t come through an extended period of grassroots political struggle to fully appreciate the intricate and complex nature of politics in Grenada, he must quickly build an understanding that would allow him to navigate his party around the political minefields created through the turbulent years of Grenadian politics.
This old man explained to the young man that he is able to see that far because his wisdom helps him to understand public servants are usually breadwinners in the family, and when they become disillusioned with a government, oftentimes the entire household would tend to follow suit.
Similarly, the majority of young people, eligible to vote, are swinging voters that are likely to go in whatever direction the prevailing political wind is blowing. Even if the youthful government looks like them, should there be a political shift, the majority of youths would tend to go in that direction.
A closer look at the NDC party would see that in the three instances where the party was able to wrestle political power from the incumbent government, it was a coming together of divergent groups with various objectives and views to vote out the then leader and his ruling party.
In between these three campaigns, not much, if anything at all, has been done to strengthen the organs and institutional structures of the party. After these victories, key party executives tend to get sucked into government.
When in office, the almost singular focus is on governance at the expense of building the party to make it a viable political organisation similar to that of the People’s National Party (PNP) in Jamaica is a perennial problem for the NDC.
This old man told the young man that his sagacity allowed him to see far ahead that these three forces could converge in the current difficult economic climate where food prices continue to rise, unemployment remains high, and provision of basic services such as health care and housing remains substandard and wanting to cause a sizable shift of support away from the government to the opposition party, particularly in that corridor from St. Andrew’s to St. John, that is the four seats in St. Andrew’s, two in St. Patrick’s and one in St. John.
The young man asked, “How am I able to see this so far? I responded by telling him it is public officers who implement projects and programs and deliver basic services such as health care.
When they become demoralised after seeing sycophants, like the South American snake, who oppressed them during the defeated regime and are responsible for some of the biggest failures in the system are able to control the flow of information and shower ministers with adulation to win their favour and continue the culture of corruption with impunity, these officers would lack the motivation to implement programs and deliver services efficiently thereby creating a vicious cycle of decline in the public service affecting the government’s ability to effectively deliver on its promises to the people.
The wider electorate would also become disillusioned with the government, which they would consider as being tone deaf to their pleadings for genuine reform and transformation in the public service.
The fickle nature of young people would cause them to swing to the other side if the opportunities they had hoped for leading up to the election are not forthcoming.
The NDC party with weak organs and institutional structures and by then an exodus of seasoned foot soldiers and canvassers would not be able to mount the kind of campaign required for an incumbent party to remain in power.
Notwithstanding the delivery of major campaign promises, all politics are local, and the situation in the constituencies, all considered marginal, in the corridor earlier mentioned would determine the fate of the government going forward.
Similarly, perception is reality in politics. Therefore, if young people perceive the government as not delivering promises that relate and have no stake in the transformative process, they will swing away from the government.
Immediate attention must be paid to the party and its ability to pursue retail politics that matters with certain segments of the electorate. Incumbent parties often face a surge in votes that put them into office and a decline in voter turnout once they are in office.
The NNP’s election victories in 1999 and 2003 highlighted this trend after winning with a high turnout of sixty-two percent in 1995. The party was only able to win with a fifty-six and fifty-seven percent in the following two elections.
Another feature of incumbency is the discontent and sometimes hatred that develops among some quarters that voted the party into office. These people then become motivated to show up and vote them out in the next elections.
As the intensity of skepticism, dissatisfaction, and disillusionment continue to build, sufficient persons could change their stance and vote the government out. This is not far-fetched with the growing number of dissatisfied supporters, disgruntled public servants, and iCal swing voters.
The Prime Minister and his team must urgently undertake real reforms within the public service, re-assign sycophants from positions where they can continue their incompetence and corruption.
Consideration must be given to taking sixty million from the CBI fund and placing it in the 2024 budget to give twenty million to revive the CESS program focusing this time on young entrepreneurs, and the remaining forty million to be used for improving the lives of persons in the corridor.
Similarly, the amnesty could be extended for another six months to give businesses a further opportunity to catch themselves since the economy is still struggling following the pandemic.
It makes better political sense to pump additional monies in these initiatives that directly affect people’s lives rather than allow these foreign persons to utilise all of the funds for which there is nothing to show for it, since not one major CBI hotel is up and functioning yet the owner of the hotel project in St. David wants more land.
NDC must understand that politics is about people, helping people improve their lives and how they perceive you in return. I told the young man that is the wisdom that caused me to see so far ahead.
Special Correspondent