On the evening of Tuesday September 18 on the weekly Let’s Talk programme, one of the heavy weights, Mr Conrad ‘Niah’ Liburd uttered words which right thinking citizens feel should have been given to the police under cover of confidentiality. But he chose VON radio which is broadcast to the entire world.
“I mean in Nevis today it is almost to the point where something is gonna take place and of course there are the voices out there that are saying if something happens they gonna blame the Hon Mark Brantley,” said Mr Liburd.
That is a very serious allegation whichever way one looks at it. For him to state that he knows that when whatever is supposed to happen and by whomever that the Hon. Mark Brantley will be blamed, does it mean that Mr Liburd has information that could assist the police in investigating it and possibly avert a catastrophe taking place in Nevis?
He was addressing Mr Evered ‘Webbo’ Herbert, in his capacity as the host of the programme. He (Herbert) is also the manager of the Voice of Nevis radio.
However, it was an elected opposition Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) parliamentarian, in the Nevis Island Assembly, the Hon Alexis Jeffers who pushed the envelope even further when the following evening, Wednesday September 19, he sat as host of the programme On the Mark, also on VON.
Saying that they (CCM) want to see the backs of the NRP as soon as possible, Hon Jeffers warned: “And you know I, I, in realising a situation or scenario down there in the Ivory Coast I hope we are not heading towards that at all. I mentioned that last week on the platform, I must mention it here now again.
“There is a particular gentleman by the name of Laurent Gbagbo, many of you would have followed the news regarding Laurent Gbagbo on the radio, on the TV or whatever the case might be. He went into office, or was elected into office in 2000.
“After five year term this gentleman Gbagbo refused to call elections. So because he refused to call the elections, there was unrest and turmoil in the Ivory Coast. The international community came down on the Ivory Coast, imposed sanctions and all the other things that could have been done to get this gentleman to call elections.
“He did eventually call elections in 2010, and even after losing the election, he received 45% of the votes, the other gentleman received, I think 54% of the votes, and even though Gbagbo lost the election, he just didn’t want to go. And if I were to take what is happening in Nevis now it seems as though we are headed down that road, and I do not want that for Nevis.”
He did mention that he had said it on a platform on Saturday September 15, and this was collaborated by a contributor to the CCM website, Nevis Politics, when one writing under the name ‘Texan’, commented on September 19 under the title ‘Stop The Talking and ACT;’
“Nevisians are just like Kittitians;;; They just talk and do not re-act. Imagine Parry is still going to Gov’t headquarters as Premier and U folks are allowing that?”
Another person writing as ‘New Blogger’ wrote back on September 20 and said: “Exactly Texan. I am starting to lose faith in my CCM leadership and team. The only one seem ready for the fight is Alexis after hearing him on Saturday night.”
Unless we are reading mischief, one cannot compare the situation in Ivory Coast with the situation in Nevis. It would be like comparing oranges with avocados. But Hon Jeffers went on to build up his story, which I would suggest that the Commissioner of Police pays attention to so as to protect a section of Nevisians when the CCM finally executes what it thinks is the right thing to do.
It is important to note that at the start and also at the end of the talk shows on VON radio, there is always a disclaimer to the effect that whatever is discussed on the programme does not reflect the views of VON radio or its advertisers.
It is however rather difficult to divorce at least Let’s Talk programme from the Voice of Nevis radio. The host of this programme, Mr Evered ‘Webbo’ Herbert’ is also the manager of the radio station. Let us look at a scenario on Tuesday May 29.
On his own programme, Morning Inspiration (which is not a talk show) he brought in the matter of Arab Spring and what was happening to the leaders and their followers in some Arab countries. When as a host of the Let’s Talk programme in the evening, he brought back the same subject.
What is even more telling is that after the Let’s Talk programme every Tuesday evenings, he comes on his Morning Inspiration programme on Wednesday mornings and advertises how great the programme was, and how passions flowed, and reminds his listeners to listen to its rebroadcast at 10:00 am.
The same goes with ‘On The Mark’ programme, aired on Wednesday evenings. He comes on his Morning Inspiration programme on Thursday mornings and tells people what a great show it was and advises those who missed it to tune to its rebroadcast at 1:00 pm.
But I am still wondering out what inspiration Mr Herbert’s Morning Inspiration programme brings to some of his listeners. After he would have explained how the song Coward of County plays out, he was on radio on Thursday (September 20) this time with the poem Desiderata.
Everyone who has read the poem cannot fail to see and understand its overarching message, which is summed up by the statement “without surrender”. And as if to tell Nevisians opposed to him ‘take that’ he played his ‘message song’ Coward of the County at 6:44 am on Monday September 24.
At the end of the song, he advised the listeners to always walk away when in trouble. That is poetic justice as dispensed by Mr Herbert: Does he forget what he told the same listeners after playing the same song on Friday September 14? People do not have short memories Mr Herbert.
Is the CCM is warning us that something is brewing up in their camp and that it is only a matter of time before it explodes? Are CCM and their overzealous apologists saying it themselves, or as we say: They have let the cat out of the bag?
It is now worrying many innocent Nevisians as to the real meaning of what the leader of the CCM Hon Vance Amory said on Monday August 27: “We are not going to pick out you know, we might put out some people.”
Many are now arguing that the use of the term ‘put out some people’ is much stronger than just referring to removal from jobs. They are telling Hon Amory that he should have said that they will “fire some people”. Any labour union anywhere in the world will understand and go with ‘fire some people’.
But what is the real problem here? The problem is that they have no respect for the Constitution of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis and its custodian, His Excellency Sir Dr Cuthbert Sebastian.
Listening to Hon Jeffers and others I am wondering loudly if they are out to incite Nevisians to cause chaos. He cannot compare the situation in Nevis with what took place in the Ivory Coast. Premier Parry is working within the parameters of the Constitution which gives him ninety days (from August 27, 2012) to call a by-election or a general election when he so wishes.
I am writing this note on Tuesday September 25, which is under 30 days since the court ruling and nowhere near ninety days. Or are the CCM sticking with what they have been preaching all along and even telling his Excellency the Governor General that they want elections in 30 days?
Are they telling the Governor General that if he would not have acted with the 30 days they will cause chaos?
This is what Hon Alexis Jeffers said on Wednesday September 18 when he sat in for the Hon Mark Brantley on his (Brantley’s) show On the Mark on VON Radio: “The power lies in the hands of the Governor General, to revoke Joseph Parry’s premiership, and we are at that point where I think our patience is wearing thin.”
Hon Jeffers asked two callers to the programme: “Let me ask you, if we have a scenario where we go down to the Governor General to petition him, meaning you know, mass numbers would you be a part of those numbers?”
He further threw jabs at the Governor General: “I do not know why we are not hearing from the Governor General, but I am going to say this, without divulging any more.
“We would have spoken to the Governor General and we have asked him, just as you asked him to address the nation or address Nevisians directly so that Nevisians can know exactly where we are headed to and what would happen and what the next move would be.”
He capped his lack of respect to the Governor General by stating: “We are calling on the Governor General, and if anyone is hearing this programme I suppose they can take a radio up to his residence and turn it on and let him hear how the people of Nevis feel, how we expect him to act so that we can have a resolution to this situation as soon as possible.”
The Good Doctor is too poor to afford a radio and CCM is making arrangements for him to have one. Oh, how charitable!
They are playing with people’s emotions instead of educating them on the role of the Governor General. It is grotesquely incompressible; it is insulting to the Head of State of this our country, St. Kitts and Nevis.
They are even allowing callers to the programmes to show disrespect to the Governor General. On the Let’s Talk programme, on Tuesday September 11, a well known CCM activist from Gingerland suggested that there has to be an age limit for the Governor General and volunteered for it to be 62 or 65 years.
Give us a break CCM. How young is your leader, the Hon Vance Amory?
The CCM and its cheerleaders are behaving like a West African chief who warns his subjects, “When in the middle of a river, do not insult the crocodile”. Who is the crocodile? From my uneducated guess, it is they (CCM and its cheerleaders) — they could bite.