– Operation Restore Confidence (ORC) suggests that, “the crime problem in Saint Lucia is facilitated by corrupt politicians/government officials, business persons and police officers.” Kenny Anthony added, “We cannot continue in a situation where we are viewed as a pariah state by our partners in the fight against crime and lawlessness.”
“ … Crime is big business in Saint Lucia and it is driven by people who are way up in the hierarchy of this country …”
By Caribbean News Global contributor
VIEUX- FORT, St Lucia – In the customary manner to react and express concerns on national issues, the member of parliament and former prime minister issues a press release saying “unidentified gunmen unleashed an unprecedented carnage in Vieux Fort when they shot three citizens to death,” adding, “The killers were brazen. They acted with impunity, totally unconcerned by the trauma they unleashed on the community.
Dr Kenny D. Anthony, parliamentary representative for Vieux-Fort South articulated that he is “deeply saddened and distressed” affirming, “all the victims were personally known to me.
“Dylan Bastien, who was 28 years old at the time of his murder, played a key role in my campaign in the 2021 General Election. Rufus Stephen alias “Brico”, who was 62 years old at the time of his murder was a well-known fisherman who owned several boats. Lorraine Savery was 59 years old. She was an employee of the Vieux Fort South Constituency Council, and was a caretaker of the Town Square. She is the mother of six children.”
According to the parliamentary representative for Vieux-Fort South, since 1997:
“No words can ever be sufficient to console the families of the victims.” But most interestingly, he said: “It is inconceivable that in a small community like Vieux Fort the perpetrators of this wave of brutality are unknown. It cannot be acceptable that the town should be held hostage to gangs.”
In the press release issued by Dr Anthony, he referenced the government of Saint Lucia of which he is a backbencher to the announcement that “due to the current unstable environment in Vieux Fort, and after consultation with the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, (RSLPF) the following schools will be closed today Friday 10 March 2023: Beanefield Comprehensive Secondary, Beanefield Post Secondary, Vieux Fort Primary, Vieux Infant and Vieux Fort Special Education Center.” And that “District 5 Track Meet 2023” was postponed!
However, he further narrated the obvious!
“Commerce has been affected as persons in nearby communities are fearful of travelling to Vieux Fort to conduct business. Citizens are afraid to walk the streets to visit stores or to engage in social activities. By evening, Vieux Fort has virtually become a ghost town.”
Most revealing is the “hypocrisy and emptiness” that has governed the town of Vieux Fort for decades.
“Despite engagement of influential individuals in the communities of Vieux Fort by civil society groups to urge peace and the disarming of gang members, there has been no respite in the wanton killings,” said the former prime minister and current parliamentary representative, in a press release Friday, March 10, 2023.
However, “this is precisely the problem,” said a government source familiar with the culture and political prowess of Vieux-Fort, stating:
“We know how to get this crime situation under control. But hypocrisy in fighting crime in Saint Lucia has gone a little too far.”
The analysis is correct, nothing has changed for the positive. Today, Vieux Fort is an ungovernable and lawless community, in full view of everyone – who dare speak up, take action and change the socio-economic and cultural interdependence of Vieux Fort.
Then and now, the utterances of the parliamentary representative for Vieux-Fort South Dr Anthony, reverberate:
“There can be no question that the approach to fighting crime in Vieux Fort has to change dramatically. There has to be a complete re-thinking of the strategy of fighting crime in Vieux Fort. The present approaches are simply not working and are not yielding results. The citizens of Vieux Fort feel that they are unprotected by those charged with the responsibility to protect them. This has to change and quickly if the community is to co-operate with law enforcement,” he demarcated.
What more can be said when the utterances of hopelessness permeate the echelon of society?
The results are such that to date, governments cower to the influence of drug barons, and criminal elements. Gangs and ‘community leaders’ operated covert businesses, fuelling the underground socio-economic model that has governed Saint Lucia for decades.
It is these open secrets and the manifestation of hypocrisy that has the underbelly of the country, rotten to the core.
Hence, the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, (RSLPF) is helpless. Meanwhile, while policymakers, the government by extension are inadequate. And the expression of concern is meaningless.
The only words that matter are – Action and Solutions!
