UWP, SLP and Leadership Struggles
By Micah George

Political turmoil over the issue of leadership within both political parties on the island appears to be gathering steam with one party going to great pains to assure the electorate that it is steadfastly behind its leader, while the other party appears to be unsure as to whom it will throw its support behind.
The leadership issue within both parties gathered momentum this week when executive members from both parties broke their silence to say something on the issue, one which has been festering for some time now particularly within the ranks of the United Workers Party with the passing of its leader Sir John Compton last September.
A hint that the leadership position in the St. Lucia Labour Party may not be as tightly secured by its current leader as previously believed came Monday this week at a press conference held by the party where its two deputy leaders, Phillip J Pierre and Alva Baptiste, showed a quickness to press home the point that there is no leadership struggle in the party and that executive members are unanimously supportive of Dr. Kenny Anthony as leader of the party for another term.
The two said they entertained no idea at this time to challenge Dr. Anthony for the leadership position. Their remarks come amidst talk that Mario Michel, a former Education Minister in the Labour Administration, could be the replacement for Dr. Anthony who has led the party for 10 years chalking up two victories and one loss at the polls.
At the party’s Thursday night’s meeting at the Castries Market steps Baptiste reiterated that there was no leadership struggle in the party repeating “Kenny is our Leader. Kenny is our Leader” underscoring his point by stating that what the country needed at this time was another dose of kennynomics.

The United Workers Party for its part has been struggling with the leadership issue since Sir John’s passing, managing to keep a lid on it for the past four months.
However with its convention slated for next month the lid has been blown away, opening the issue to public examination and analysis, which the party seems unable to cope with as was evident this week by statements made by Prime Minister Stephenson King himself, party general secretary Gertrude George and Bruce Wayne Tucker, better known as Rufus Bousquet, the latter being the name by which most people know him by.
King’s assumption to the Prime Ministerial position did not equate to an automatic filling of the position of political leader of the party, a position that at least four current Government parliamentarians, in recent times, have shown their interest in filling, including King.
It was only this week that expelled Cabinet Minster Rufus Bousquet made it quite clear he may join the contest for the leadership position come the convention, a contest that was shaping up to be a no contest because it appeared at the time that King would be unchallenged at the convention.
Bousquet’s assertion that he definitely will be in the leadership race has completely capsized expectations of the party’s faithful, and may very well have shaken King’s confidence, even though secretary George said that nominations for the leadership position of the party is an open affair that underscores the democracy within the party and that Bousquet’s statement that he will contest the position is not alarming or surprising in itself.
And while members like Richard Frederick and Lenard Montoute have not been as open as Bousquet in making declarations as to whether they will contest the leadership position, both men had at some earlier point shown interest in the position.
Indications are that the upcoming conventions of both parties are shaping up to be events of interest, despite efforts of operatives of both sides to downplay the interest.