Saint Lucians are a Vex People

A subversive force issued a stern warning to government and society recently that years of frustration at the grass roots level have finally matured into an itchy desire to speak through the use violence. Although the voice note traveled to Saint Lucians in faraway places, it has not stirred panic at home.

Good but the substance of this man’s message should neither be lost nor ignored. There were some signs that the messenger may have been high or stoned out when he recorded his message but for the most part he was venting the frustration of his socio economic class.

Going as far back as the John Compton era when he considered that economic conditions for the poor were tolerable, he outlined the frustrations of the indigent enduring through successive political terms.  The speaker explained in his own words that the ghetto people of this country are about to explode.

The cause: perpetual poverty without hope.

One response from a Facebook enthusiast was dismissive. The writer made a mockery of our people’s ability to rebel against the powers that be. It has never happened and it will never happen, he or she wrote.

Maybe true but the growing rate of violence in Saint Lucia seems exponential. There was a time when ten murders per year would stir shock on the island. Now we are well on our way to seventy and it won’t be surprising if that figure climbs closer to eighty by the end of this year.

 Although at the last general elections neither of the parties professed to have the solution to the problem of crime, every government must consider itself as having a mandate to get to the root of it.

If we continue on the present trajectory it is not inconceivable that at some point in time, the streets of our capital city Castries, will be ruled by gangs.  Kidnappings may at some point, become the order of the day similar to what happens in Guyana, Trinidad, and Haiti.  It is not unforeseeable that within a few years, Saint Lucia will become almost unlivable for peace loving people.

We have said time and time again that every approach to the problem of crime has so far failed, and a new strategy needs to be adopted and applied. Our leaders need to be more contemplative; and they need to observe more keenly the approach taken by friendly states in the process of maintaining peace and preserving democracy.

Over the years we have observed a palpable cultural change. Up to 1980s Saint Lucians were a friendly and welcoming people; the crime rate was very low and; although the drug trade was growing, it was slow, and illegal weapons did not proliferate our streets.

The turn for the worse came in the 1990s and coincided with political change and significant economic decline.

Now Saint Lucian’s are a vex people going off on a hat at the slightest irritation. The family as an institution has crumbled into a thousand pieces; household poverty levels have become acute; the police force has evolved into a corrupt institution with some of its officers spinning apartheid style investigations, designed to avoid prosecution of select persons who are supported by money or privilege. 

The judicial system is merciless to the poor.  It starts at the point of arrest where poor suspects often cannot afford to pay attorneys for representation.  They are regularly lured into making inculpatory statements to the police in the presence of Justices of the Peace who cannot advise because they have no significant knowledge of the law.

The problem gets worse at the court where bail is unavailable to the poor since they have no money or assets to meet its terms.  The strategic disadvantage of being unrepresented becomes stark when defendants stand before juries while court proceedings affecting their fate, fly over their heads.

The struggle is real.  Poverty is no joke and in a sense, to be poor is a crime!

Poverty breeds dysfunction, hopelessness and often unfortunately, a sense of worthlessness.

Should we expect the dejected to place no value on their lives, but to respect ours?  We wish.  This would be an unnatural reaction.

If someone doesn’t care whether he or she lives or dies, we should not expect that person to care about whether we live or die either.

The answer to our problem of crime lies in the happiest countries in the world.  This may sound far fetched but it’s not. We might not necessarily be able to follow their revenue generation model but there is much we can learn from them.  This includes economy, equality and equity in government, democratic sanctity and the development of state institutions for the upliftment of man.

If we are to learn, we must learn from the best. 

 Our people are not happy.  That’s the bottom line.  Pain and grief are hidden behind almost every drunken or stoned out smile; children endure through sexual and other abuses in order to cushion the effects of poverty; government assistance to the poor is a pittance, provided not as of right but likened to the charity of a benevolent administration; people with disabilities must learn the art of begging (a lifetime indignity); healthcare within the public system is less than a six for a nine; a large percentage of our youth remains unemployed for years after leaving school; businesses struggle in an economic climate uninspired by investment or effective government stimulus and support. 

The problems that affect people in this country are a mile long.

With very limited natural resources, Saint Lucia will never be rich but we are convinced that a different approach to macroeconomic management and governance will improve our financial standing and the plight of our people.

A survey in 2021 found that people from Finland where the per capita income is higher than the OECD average, are the happiest people in the world.  It is no wonder that with a population of 5,553,139 people, recorded offences against life amounted to only 17 in 2020. 

Although these statistics are merely anecdotal, they are safely reflective of the fact that crime levels are high when people are unhappy and; that poverty breeds unhappiness and dysfunction. 

Let’s break this cycle in Saint Lucia instead of replaying the empty threatening rhetoric that “we will bring the strong arm of the law upon the criminals”. 

The criminals don’t care about the strong arm of the law.  The law itself, is often a criminal as well!

Here’s a hard fact: the rich need to be less rich and the poor need to be less poor in Saint Lucia in order to fulfill the spirit of good and to massage the conscience of the dejected.