Arrogant? Kenny Anthony arrogant? I have known him for more than half my life. We worked together in Guyana, where he decided to accept Labour’s invitation in 1996 to come back home and lead them to victory. I worked with him when I came back home from Guyana in 1999. I have remained his friend since the 2006 general elections. I know the man and I laugh when those who don’t know him believe those who know he’s not but tell people he’s arrogant. Defiant might be a better word for how he treats those who insist he should simply forget about trying to change the politics and live by the principle of politics as usual.
Those who question Kenny Anthony’s standing in his party and his chances of leading it to victory and who claim that Labour should change him or he will lose, do select their slingshots. They steer clear of comparing Kenny Anthony and Stephenson King . Or their respective records in office. Or the records of their governments in their first three years. Or their stature at the regional and international levels at the end of their respective three years in office. Or the way in which the country was run in their respective first three years. Or their respective approaches to and results of their crime fighting efforts in their first three years.
Three years is also enough time to allow fair critics, analysts and observers to picture the political and philosophical approaches of each of the two parties to the main issues that affect St. Lucians today. Which has better policies for handling of the country’s finances? For developing the tourism industry? For building the economy? To earn money for the Treasury? To put everyone in school? To make sure everyone has access to health? To help poor people get homes? To create jobs – not only for the boys, but for everyone?
As Leader of the SLP and Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Kenny Anthony has to get all the kudos for all the positive things that his governments – the two Labour administrations that he led – achieved and implemented. He must also take some of the blame for all that went wrong under his watch, but when I put the positives on one side and the negatives on the other side of my scale, the good far outweighs the bad. And, for that, just for that, I judge Kenny Anthony as the best man to lead the Labour Party into the next General Elections.
Tomorrow afternoon, my friend Kenny go down to Vieux Fort as Leader of the SLP. And tomorrow night he’ll come back up to Castries with his party’s mandate, backed by a Vote of Confidence – or any kind of vote – to lead the Labour Party into the next election any time it’s called.
The way I see it, come Monday morning Kenny will still be king to Labour supporters, the monarch of their seas of hope, the man they see as the best person to be the next Prime Minister of St. Lucia under Labour. They have had him there and they want him there again because the country needs the most steady hand Labour has ever had in that office. They trust that Kenny Anthony has learned from whatever mistakes he may have made and that given another chance, he won’t make those same mistakes again. They will seal the deal tomorrow and on Monday he will wake up to a new dawn, with his supporters counting on him to lead them to victory whenever an election is called – in 21 days or 90 days after it’s constitutionally due. After that, it will be for him to prove that having done it twice, he can do it thrice. That’s just what it is. All the rest is just talk, talk, talk!
So, what will the next anti-Kenny media-powered slingshot be? That he used the Rochamel money to build a 16-bedroom house in Cap Estate for his wife? Or that if he’s elected God will visit on St. Lucia an earthquake like Haiti?
Choops…

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