An Open Letter To The Rt. Hon. Arnhim Eustace

To

Rt. Hon. Arnhem Eustace (Leader of the Opposition& the N.D.P)
C/o N.D.P Headquarters
Kingstown
St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Dear Mr. Eustace,

It is with a tremendous level of humility, that I take this opportunity to write this letter to you; to address a situation that has the potential to escalate into a national catastrophe. One that can have a long lasting and devastating effect on your liberty and the liberty of the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I speak of the referendum which will seek to enact the proposed St. Vincent and the Grenadines constitution act 2009, which was passed in the house of Assemble by default on 3rd of September 2009.

Recently I received and reviewed a copy of revised document and I was shock by the quality of the document, the Government of St. Vincent has invested so much time, talent and resources to produce. I am also shock that a man like Ralph Gonsalves who holds a PhD. In political science and a LLB in Law along with his cabinet could be so legally dumb to have sanctioned such a poorly prepared document and take such document to the house for the approval of intelligent men like you, the Major, Dr. Lewis among them.

This lead me to asked the following question, Have my friends Mike Brown and the other former educator in the ULP lost their ability to comprehend written English language? are they no longer interesting in educating the nation’s people? how can they actively participate in the miss-education of the people they say they love? Did Rene Baptiste the prolific lawyer, and a woman whom I like; take the time to review this document? Rene do not strike me as one to knowingly betray her country and her people.

I know there is more to the efforts of the Unity Labor Party Government than that which meets the eyes or as members of the aged population (old people) will say: “there is more in the mortar than the pestle.”

I do not have to tell you that St. Vincent and the Grenadines is now the laughing stock of the every government and their people in the western hemisphere, even the ordinary man who was afforded the opportunity to examine this document are crying shame on us as a nation. Do you know that, associations such as the Netball, Basketball, Volleyball and other sporting association has stronger constitutions for the management of their affairs, when compare to the Constitution act 2009, which is to be used as the supreme law of a sovereign nation? This whole sorry affair is like a humorless joke and no one in their right senses is laughing.

Could Ralph and his cronies be so ignorant, that they will allow such a pathetic document to be put forward to the people, for our approval as the supreme law of this sovereign nation? Ralph Gonsalves is attempting to cause the realization of our greatest fears; which is, to trick us into allowing him to treat the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and their resources in the same manner he currently treats the office of the Director of Public Prosecution and the Police Force. Whatever his plans are, we cannot allow them to be realized; the price will be too high, even higher than the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines should be allowed to pay. Mr. Eustace this is the reason we are relying on you to ensure that such do not happen.

I know that you are the people’s voice and you and your team have been working tirelessly to educate the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines so that they could make an informed decision and vote against this snare (the constitution act 2009). I do not know your entire plans in accomplishing such an important task; however, at this late hour; I will like to make some suggestion which I hope you will give serious consideration to.

To lose an election due to fraudulent means to any political group, is one thing and although it is a serious infringement on honesty, democracy and the constitution; the stolen term will come to an end and the electoral process will come around once more, giving those who lose, the opportunity to take corrective measures thus ensure that such miscarriage of democracy not happen again. However to have the constitution act 2009 of St. Vincent and the Grenadines be approved in a referendum by fraudulent means carries with it, a far greater price and far more severe consequences.

I have taken the temperature of the situation on the ground and I have no doubt that the people will vote against enacting of the Constitution act 2009 in the referendum, and this will result in Ralph, and his evil intention (will) lawfully suffer a devastating defeated. However, I know for a fact, in this case the voice of the people will not be heard. I know that Ralph Gonsalves and his dishonest group have already put the machinery in place to secure a victory by fraud.

This is serious times, and a referendum victory even by fraudulent means only opens up the way for Ralph Gonsalves to ratify the necessary changes to the constitution to ensure that he enslave Vincentian in the same manner Hugo Chavez now enslaves his people using fear as his whip.

You have to understand that Ralph Gonsalves has too much to lose not to have the constitution act 2009 approved by the people he dislike and too often disrespect. There is no secret that the result in the referendum is an indicator of how the next general will go for the ULP Government. Ralph Gonsalves is fully aware that he cannot afford to have the reign of power pry from his fingers by the will of the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He is fully aware that a new administration and a different Director of Public Prosecution, he could be made to stand trial for the rape and sexual assault of the police officer and the sexual assault of the Vincentian/Canadian human Rights lawyer. This is a chance he cannot afford and is not willing to take. I know that although Ralph’s victims are silent now, they are uncomplainingly awaiting their day in court.

Now, I will recommend that we call upon international observers, to over see the referendum; I will like to also suggest that you use your most trustworthy and vigilant of supporters to monitor the poles. These pole monitors must be very militant they should be outfitted with micro recorders and even mini video recorders to document any irregularity that may occur in the station before, during and after the voting. We do not want any ballot boxes to be discovered in any hiding places after the fact. In conclusion let me remind you of a fact I know you are aware that Ralph Gonsalves cannot be trusted; however I say again do not put anything pass him for Ralph Gonsalves is desperate and is willing to do anything to hold onto the reign of government at all cost.

A Reader's View and Author's Reply

A comment made on the Crushing Fools post titled: "St. Vincent Constitution Review: A Closer Look"

Darrien Ollivierre said...

While I agree with most of your argument. I believe you may have misinterpreted Cap 6 Section 68:

"A person shall be qualify to be elected or selected to be a representative if, and shall not be so qualify to be so elected or selective unless he is able to speak and, unless incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause , to read the English language with a degree of proficiency sufficient to allow him to take an active part in the proceedings of the national assemble."

My interpretation is that the section deals with communication in the assembly proceedings. It says that a person must be able to speak and to read the English Language with a degree of proficiency as required to take part in assembly proceedings. However it makes allowance for individuals who are not able to read if "incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause".

I do not interpret the section to be discriminatory I believe it makes concession for persons with disabilities to be elected. In essence, it says that the only reason you should not be able to read the English language well is if you are blind or have some other impediment.

All that being said, I dont think the whole review has been handled appropriately and a great injustice has been carried out by our politicians who have made it into a party political issue, thus seeking to pursuade the populace based on political affiliation.

Furthermore, "yes" campaigners have the nerve to say that persons who do not support the new constitution are unpatriotic!! As far as I am aware, being patriotic means doing what I feel is best for my Nation and it's People, whether that comes in the form of supporting a new constitution or maintaining the existing one.

Reply: Good day Darrien Ollivierre,

I appreciate you and your effort to continue the rational debate, as it relates to the constitution of St. Vincent; I also appreciate your interpretation of this piece of law; however, it is such ambiguity that contributes to the fattening of lawyers coffers and are the reason why they are able to make fools out of the ordinary man. For reason that is anything but honest, they fail to make their intent clear, hence the reason they attach tons of jumbles to their written and vocal expression. It is their intent to keep the ordinary man and woman in a state of confusion; for it is in our state of mental confusion we are forced to use their service.

Now let’s break down this piece of ambiguous writing together.

"A person shall be qualify to be elected or selected to be a representative if, and shall not be so qualify to be so elected or selective unless he is able to speak and, unless incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause, to read the English language with a degree of proficiency sufficient to allow him to take an active part in the proceedings of the national assemble."

The sentence starts with, “A person shall be qualify to be elected or selected to be a representative if,” however before it was state in plain English, all of the eligible factors, the second sentence began and thus began to outline all the characteristics that disqualify or make a person ineligible to be so elected or selected. It makes much sense to list of characteristic which will make a person ineligible for the reason they are few. To do otherwise will be to long and will only add to the congestion of the piece of legislation. So to avoid such congestion they went on to outline those characteristics that mad an individual ineligible.

Hence the reason why phase “and shall not be so Qualify to be so elected or selected unless he is able to” proceed the opening phase. What does this means? If an individual do not possess the characteristic that disqualify him form eligibility qualify you.

Now, let us take a little time to analyze the second portion of the paragraph. This paragraph outlined in detail the characteristics that disqualify an individual from being selected or elected to public political office and they are divided into two categories.

1. The disable which is specified by disability
   · “He must be able to speak” (none speakers are omitted)
   · Incapacitated by blindness (any blind person)
   · “Incapacitated by physical means” (anyone with a physical incapacity which is wide and vague)
   
2. And the other category that disqualifies an individual is illiteracy (English Language): ones inability to read or write.

Every person with an open mind is aware that Sign Language and brail are universal language and in this world with its educational and technological advancement have created an environment where a blind person may be unable to see and a hearing impaired person may be unable to hear but they are not disabled. In many cases they are more able then many who has all of their senses in tact.

What I will like to know why is the person who has a physical incapacity disqualify from holding an elected or appointed office?