By Kensley Peter Charlemagne
I am trying to make up my mind as to where to vote this election. Hello. Of course I know where the G1 polling station is. I know how to get there and I have money to get there. Things are not that hard inna Lucia.
What I have trouble with is where to put my x. Sadly, I cannot vote for myself this time around. They increased the nomination fee to keep me out. They worked their spells with their numbers, 6616. 17 constituencies. 17 days to general elections. That was not working so they attacked at the moral conscience. Let’s make the nomination day Saturday. That should keep him out. Well it has. But we know that one vote can decide a winner. All it takes is ONE vote!
The first time I voted (two elections ago) it was a protest vote. I marked an x for both candidates. One, to protest my dissatisfaction with partisan politics and the other reason was to protest the un-comely behaviour of the two candidates who were both Seventh-day Adventists. There is the notion that Seventh-day Adventists should stay out of politics and sometimes I understand the rationale. But I am convinced by Proverbs 29:2 that there is a place for Christians in elective politics.
So where do I cast my vote this elections? If there was a third option, believe me, that would be an easy decision. (I am not like the many St Lucians who are paralyzed by fear) but I am stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. It is no secret that I do not think the greatest of the leadership of Kenny Anthony but I have no hope in Chastanet. I maintain that both Fedee and Chastanet are imposters. That you never cared enough to learn my language tells me a lot about you. Believe, me it does! And now you want to come pretending you love me so much. But now I have to choose between them and a leader who shows no regard for religious liberty. If he did he would have decriminalized marijuana a long time ago. Believe me, John, I love you but your leader makes it so hard. Maybe I should just stay home. But “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors” and “Bad politicians are elected by good people who don’t vote”.
There is no doubt that this is an ambush election but it remains to be seen who will be caught in the trap.
This conundrum we are in reinforces the soundness of having a fixed date for elections. There were potential candidates who could not get their forms signed because there were no JP’s to be found on the Saturday and there were those who had planned a trip and were out of island. My appeal is to all Adventists and other Sabbath keepers to go out and vote. Vote for religious liberty. Today is Adventists tomorrow is you. Lé bab kamawad ou ka pwi difé ouzé sa ou. Mé Bondyé souplé pa fé Chastanet ganyen and open the eyes of my people to see the amount of power they have in their hands; ’cause the people united cannot be divided. With that power they have, they can call for another election tomorrow and get it too.
Now, where am I voting again?
………….Kensley, please read Nahdjla Bailey’s piece.
Thank you Samj for reading. I read. I really do not know what NB is excited about. Her excitement is in a vaccum. The least she could have done was to tell the reader what the model is. She is excited about something that she has not fully understood but her own confession. As for me, I am not buying jab an sak. It’s like telling me you are going to remove VAT and replace it with a “creative” tax. What is that? Sorry I am not buying.