By: Fair Share For All
All who used to talk before when Unity was in power MUST continue to talk now that the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party is in power. These people promised to keep the feet of the SKNLP leaders to the fire and there must be no letting up.
Our leaders must endeavour to do the right thing all the time. Because none of us is perfect, I expect mistakes to be made. Because they are new to the job, I expect missteps to be made. But I will not accept corruption and racketeering as part of the learning process. That is why all who were talking to get the SKNLP into power, must continue to talk to keep them in power.
I am happy that slowly but surely critical changes are being made. All who are being retired or reassigned were expecting a letter. All political appointees know who they are and they know that as soon as their party is out of power, they are out of a job or out of that job.
Those who are on the PAP, for example, and know that they shouldn’t be there, must know that in short order they will be removed. Similarly, Labour comrades who know that they do not qualify for PAP should not be harassing our leaders to put them on just because they worked during the campaign and they deserve to get something from their government. We didn’t like it when Unity was doing it and it shouldn’t be encouraged under our watch.
That is why my comrades should think long and hard before giving up a good paying job in the private sector or giving up their self-employment hustle for a politically appointed government job. Instead, this new government should make it easy for the small and medium business to thrive. They should create the environment so that self-employment is a practical, lucrative alternative. The Dr Drew-led government through whatever agencies they control, must make loans EASILY available at EXTREMELY LOW interest rates to self-employed persons. While I understand that it’s people’s money that is being loaned and the banks etc. need to know how the money will be repaid, it’s nearly impossible for a small business to get a loan or afford a loan at a commercial bank.
Many small businesses popped up during COVID because of COVID. There are some small businesses that survived the brunt of COVID but need some help to keep them viable. These business owners are not asking for free money. They are not looking any hand out. Instead they want a little hand up to help them over a surmountable obstacle.
The government tried something like that already. This time, it has to be administered differently. Government has to ensure that from the outset it is known to all that it is not a political gimmick. All business owners, regardless of their political affiliation, will be expected to repay the loan. And business owners must make every attempt to repay their loans so that the funds don’t dry up after the first round.
But I digress. The point before the digression was stressing the need to resist the popular urge to look a government job when “your government is in power”. Quite apart from the fact that upward mobility could be slow and is not guaranteed, government salaries are usually lower than in the private sector and specific academic qualifications are usually needed to get appointed and to get promoted.
However, if in spite of my unsolicited advice supporters of the SKNLP feel compelled to seek employment with the government, please ignore me and go ahead. Some people want a livable pension when they retire. Others, having seen that during COVID government employees received their full salaries every month, they want a job like that. Truth be told, some private companies have no pension plan and the salaries of many employees in even the biggest private sector businesses were negatively impacted during COVID. In addition, a boss could wake up one morning and decide that he/she doesn’t want a particular employee around and that’s the end of the employee.
I am happy that PM Drew has responded to the claims about a $1.5 million hut being built in his yard. While I am not saying that he and the other ministers should take on everything, we cannot allow any lie to get traction. To get legs. It is obvious that some people are being paid handsomely to make up stories and put them out there. So our leaders must stay in touch with us so that we can dispel the lies for them and about them. We need to continue to pray for our leaders. How we prayed when we wanted them to win is the same way in which we must pray for them now that they have won. We know that the emergence of Team Unity and its unexpected demise two years into its second term after it had won the elections in such a decisive way had to be the work of the Lord. And we must never forget that.
We also know that Rome was not built in a day but some of us are growing impatient. But if we can wait and survive seven long years of Unity while they did all manner of evil to us, certainly we can wait a little longer for us to get what is for us. The St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party is the only party that has brought real, meaningful, life long benefits to the people.
And we must never forget that.