St. Kitts & Nevis should have held general elections, by now, and be moving into a new dispensation with either the incumbent or a new Government. Instead the country is held in a state of political paralysis, orchestrated by the Raider whose intent it is to use the Parliament to enact laws to ensure victory at the polls.  This flies in the face of decency and fair play and constitutes an attack on democracy itself.  This should be cause for concern, to every citizen of this country.   The fact that so many seem to be tolerating what is happening can only be explained through tribalism.  Where is the patriotism the love for country that goes beyond the bank balances and future earnings of the members of the tribe?  Hence it is not difficult to understand why some self-styled disaffected members of the tribe, who now that the situation has reached crunchy time, are prepared to circle the wagons, and reaffirm their love for the Labour Party and will now look the other way in the face on the offensive conduct of the Raider.  They have now become muted and are prepared to support laws, against their consciences, which blatantly seek to deny the citizens of this nation the right to choose a candidate of their choice or attempt to gerrymander the constituency boundaries at the last minute.

Even if the members of the tribe should act true to form, where is the rest of civil society? Their silence is deafening.  Future generations will judge us harshly if the rest of us remain cowed under this ghastly onslaught on democracy.   The Christian Council, the Evangelical Association, the Bar Association and to some extent the Chamber of Industry and Commerce have stood silently as the office of the Prime Minister has been demeaned by the Raider.  Then again, some of the leaders of these organizations are members of the ruling tribe and their economic future is intertwined with the very survival of the Labour Party.  It is not difficult to predict that democracy will be seriously affected, in the very near future, if the situation is left unabated.

History is replete with examples of countries that gave their leaders full reign to tinker with the democratic process; Adolph Hitler, Idi Amin and Robert Mugabe, just to name a few.  Hitler scoffed at democracy in Germany, in his maniacal effort to promote his tribe, the Nazi Party.  When the dust was settled, millions had lost their lives.  Idi Amin was taken lightly, and was often viewed by many as a buffoon.  When it was all over, the suffering that was wrought on the citizens of Uganda was unspeakable.  Many became apologists when it became evident that Robert Mugabe was fooling around with the democratic process in Zimbabwe, because of his past heroic acts.  The result?  Robert Mugabe destroyed a country which was once considered to be the “bread basket of Africa” and today the Citizens of that country are facing starvation, oppression and extermination.  The lesson here is that every one of us, Citizens of this beloved country of ours should guard our democracy jealously.  We should all be offended, irrespective of the tribe to which we belong, whenever the Government sought to curtail our freedom of expression and Ministers of government use threatening language from the political platform.   We should all be riled up when the Government attack professionals for expressing views which contradict those postulated by the ruling tribe.  If nothing is done to eradicate this cancer from our midst, repression will be accelerated as the tribe sought to tighten its control over the Nation. Those members of the ruling tribe who may feel safe at this time may be rudely awakened if democracy is allowed to further wilt,  as friends and relatives disappear and find themselves accused of infractions of which they are unaware. The rule of law as we now know it will disappear.

The country is facing its worst economic crisis exacerbated by a spiralling National Debt of EC$3 billion which consumes almost 50 cents out of every dollar collected, and yet professionals that know better, because of tribalism, are silent.  The size of the debt is not accidental and the veracity of its composition is suspect.  It is instructive that the Government is circulating a document which purports to show growth and prosperity in these trying times, which is farcical, and yet our professionals say nothing.  Inflation in 2008 was reported to be a mere 7.6% and growth was 2.5%.  In spite of the rosy picture that is painted by the Government, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has projected that the economy will contract by 2% in 2010 and the recession will continue ensuing further hardships.  The level of UNEMPLOYMENT will continue to rise and with it the levels of poverty, crime and disenchantment amongst our young people. The future of this nation is far more important than tribalism and Civil Society must awake from its slumber.