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   After much checking and rechecking, telephone calls after telephone calls, many of which went unanswered, The VOICE has been able to determine that Marcus Neill Nicholas, the United Workers Party politician representing the Dennery North constituency in parliament, is back in the embrace of the party he resigned from a mere six weeks ago.
But, according to our source, he is maintaining a low profile. This is very much so as several calls by us to Nicholas’ cellular phone went unanswered.
Nicholas also resigned as Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, a situation that resulted in a dramatic episode in the House in which the governing side refused to name someone from their side of the House to fill the post.
The walkout action taken by members on the opposite side of the House in protest over the continuation of the House to conduct business without a Deputy Speaker led to an island-wide discourse or the role of the Speaker, the intention of the Constitution and the House of Assembly’s Standing Orders and the intentions of those who crafted the Constitution.
Nicholas who has been involved in the political arena since 1997, when he lost an election to the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) candidate Tony Torrence won that seat in the 2001 general election, as a UWP candidate; in this election, the UWP only won three constituencies: Micoud North, Micoud South, and Dennery North. Nicholas subsequently became the Leader of the Opposition. In the midst of internal party disputes, the UWP announced that it had terminated his membership in the party on July 29, 2004.
However, Nicholas was narrowly re-elected as the UWP candidate for the Dennery North Constituency in the general election held on 11 December 2006, defeating SLP candidate Damian Greaves.




Following the election, in which the UWP won a majority in the House of Assembly, UWP leader Sir John Compton offered Nicholas a junior position in the government which Nicholas was reportedly unhappy about. He nevertheless became Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in Compton’s government, which was sworn in on 19 December 2006.
Following Compton’s death, he was one of only two UWP members of parliament along with Rufus Bousquet who did not receive posts in the government of Prime Minister Stephenson King, which was appointed on September 12, 2007.
Nicholas has been a somewhat unpredictable politician and has found himself embroiled in several unflattering encounters that have thrown negative publicity his way during his time in the political limelight.
On 29th August 2011 he resigned from both the United Workers Party and as Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly. What led him to do that was the re-direction of $150,000.00, earmarked for his constituency, to that of another for management purposes.
However, shortly after sending in his resignation letter The VOICE was informed that he was still with the party. These earlier tit for tats proved accurate when a mere five weeks after he resigned reports were that Nicholas had returned.
Nicholas has since then stayed away from public enquiry and away from the media so as not to be questioned on his recent change of heart and whether he would accept the post of Deputy Speaker if it is offered to him again.
What really motivated Nicholas to return is anyone’s guess however with Nicholas anything is possible.

   Most persons are aware of the differences within the human race early in life. The reason may be due to the gift of intelligence of the species. In addition, one learns soon enough that such differences run deeper and are more profound than those of mere appearance. One’s behaviour is a more important distinguishing characteristic than one’s height, size, sex, skin tone or language. A discussion on the qualities which make a good and wholesome political representative, for some reason, has never ‘caught fire’ in the local media. I have often wondered why such a discussion has been so studiously avoided. For example, we could openly discuss the quality of bananas exported from the island and at the same time so skilfully avoid the quality of persons producing the fruit for export. Then again, perhaps such quality issues are deliberately sidestepped in order to avoid confronting our own mediocrity and our propensity towards inertia negativity and indifferent behaviour. Notwithstanding such past avoidance this may be as good a time to debate the quality – talent, love, compassion, humility, bravery – in those individuals seeking the peoples’ vote for parliament, come next elections.
What should the primary concern of the voter be in selecting a person to the country’s legislature? I am aware that, based on my own researches, many young persons here consider ‘honesty’ the most important quality in a leader. The question is, do adults hold the same view, and if so what other qualities ought we to look for in a person offering himself for political office? When will we begin a sensible and objective conversation on this crucial subject? Since such a conversation may not be forthcoming any time soon I ought to offer some pointers on how one may avoid voting for a political imposter – a fake.
I begin with the observation that Homo sapiens has from the dawn of history used deceit, fakery, bluff and brute force to survive and to evolve to the top of the pyramid of numbers. These qualities are not unique to any particular group or profession – although some swear on their parent’s grave that lawyers and politicians come closest. Even so, it is not difficult to see that man’s mental faculties have been fine-tuned in order to achieve his basic needs and that furthermore, the more advanced and ‘civilized’ he claims to be, the sharper and more evolved his survival instincts. Extrapolating from these simple truths we may correctly surmise that the centre of activity of modern civilized man comes down to a perpetual search for money – the means to his needs.
It is therefore difficult to tell the real from the fake as so many are in pursuit of the same goal. One way to know a political imposter is by his sudden attachment to a particular colour. Once an interest has been declared the imposter sets about wearing party political colours like some bible-toting Roman Catholic who has suddenly been ‘born-again’ having discovered church, in a smaller ‘Christian’ denomination. These are now ‘Christians’ and not ‘Catholic’ if you get my drift. In addition to the perpetual wearing of something red, or yellow, such an imposter now finds it convenient – that naughty little word again – to attend every church service of ever denomination within the particular constituency, sometimes even venturing outside it. To save face and ovoid embarrassment, some imposters even arrange to be invited to these church services – and to meetings of other organization. But no one is fooled and since God does his best work through the eyes and hands of His people, every political imposter who tries to deceive God’s people trembles within, at the thought his deceit.



In these two forms – dress and church attendance - one may also observe that persons who previously went about their daily lives with a profile no higher than that of Joe Blow on Jeremie Street, now appear at every public event, in party outfit and discovering that a nice ‘hello’ is an important attribute which one ought to have cultivated. A nice ‘good morning’ still has its place amongst those who live in small communities in which family names and tradition count for something of value.
Allied with these two is the newly acquired practice of shaking every hand especially that of persons whose vote is sorely needed. Not satisfied with a mere handshake, the fake will often put his misgivings aside to hold and kiss every baby he encounters, with tears-stained-face and unattended nostrils, taken in stride. By these three one knows for certain a new political imposter is out to win the peoples’ vote.
The fourth thing one ought to look for in a fake politician is the sudden interest in all things in the constituency level – and national. These types suddenly develop a special inclination to comment on every blocked drain and every hazard facing the people in the constituency of interest. These imposters use the mass media more than any NGO or community group. Unfortunately, few in the media seemed prepared to ask the crucial questions, perchance to unmask such an imposter. Whence come you; whither go you; what do you bring, are just three crucial questions!
Sadly, no opportunity is missed by such fakes to mislead the public by stating boldly how much more they will do for the people, if elected. They hasten to point out the many ways in which the present representative (and government) has failed. Thankfully, the majority of electors are not deceived by such performances. The imposter’s crocodile tears and fake emotions, sometimes with hand-on-the-heart play acting, may no longer be as effective this time around; such antics having been so abused in past elections. The constant pontificating on radio and television is therefore a sure way to tell the imposters who have just arrived and whose search for food, clothing, shelter and sex (money) has now been elevated unto the national political arena.
The fifth way – we seemed to have left the best for last – by which to tell a political imposter is by the manner he carries himself pretending he is God’s gift to us poor mortals. Such arrogance however, once discovered is dealt with swiftly by the electorate. An arrogant imposter has little hope of a comeback, in this unforgiving society. When an imposter pretends that he has all the answers to the worlds’ social and economic problems in his pocket one is tempted to ask: What does this imposter know that President Obama, (USA) Prime Minister Cameron, (UK) and the IMF and World Bank do not? The truth is our political imposters have been found wanting and a majority knows it. The only conclusion is to observe, as Jane Austen did, that there is in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil, a natural defect, which not even the best education, can overcome. So my dear reader, be on the lookout for those political imposters (fakes) in the up-coming general elections

   Rick Wayne has followed Timothy Poleon -- and he too has made his choice. Surprised? I’m not -- definitely not. Awah, not me...
I’ve long stopped being surprised at or by anything Rick would say or do. It’s the nature of the man. I know him. He just loves being ‘predictably unpredictable’. And he’ll always remind you to “Don’t understand me too quickly.”
Those who are surprised that Rick left DBS and took his program -- hook, line and sinker – to a rival station, simply don’t understand how this thing works. It’s a part of the industry -- a piece of the pie, if you will. Some of my other media colleagues change media house like underwear – here today, gone tomorrow.
Rick might have spent a decade or so at DBS, but I don’t know that he had any contractual obligations. I’d rather suspect “Talk” might have been more of an “arrangement” than a profitable commercial undertaking. Besides, the program had been advertised without showing up for so long of late that I had started to wonder why the ad was running. Yet, even though I knew nothing about it, I wasn’t surprised Rick had made another choice.
I’m not surprised either that Rick has let the dwindling citizenry of Talk City know that the show will be no different. All that will be new will be the station, I guess.
Anyone who knows Rick as well as I do knows the only thing he’ll change often is his mind – and defend his right to. Here again, what do you expect from “a publisher who chooses to write”? It wasn’t too long ago that Rick also explained why he’d changed his mind on the death penalty (or something like that).
Rick’s changed his mind about many other things too. He changed his mind about my cousin Rufus after forcing him to reveal he had another name and another past; he changed his mind about John Compton many times, after many exposures; he changed his mind about being a Labour Party Senator just before Kenny Anthony fired him; he changed his mind about Kenny Anthony after Kenny Anthony fired him – and he’s changed his mind, again, about Kenny Anthony, just as he’s also changed his mind about Stephenson King not being man enough to lead a Boy Scout troupe.
I bristle when I hear friends say or read other writers write that they’re surprised that Rick has become the main explainer of this government’s actions. Do they forget that Rick said, from Day One, that he has a strategic interest in this government – and that, evidently, he definitely hasn’t changed his mind about that? So then, should I be surprised if the next election goes like everybody else expects (or wishes, or hopes) it will go, should I be surprised if Rick changes his mind about Kenny Anthony – again? Not me!
Truth be told, I’ve been in the belly of the beast and I know what some former Star addicts miss when they say they are missing what the Star used to be. But, evidently, at least for now, Rick has changed his mind about exposing government lapses and infelicities like he used to before.
Yes, the Star is now being described as ‘the government’s chief apologist’. But then, as Rick himself will tell you, he believes that if you stay in the same place, or do the same thing, for too, too long, you become a slave to it. After a decade at DBS, he moved. So, why expect the Star be the same all the time, or to be in 2011 what it was when it started off in 19-whatever? Evidently, the Star is where to go for expectations of what the Prime Minister will say and explanations of what the Prime Minister said, or did not say, as with what the PM said on the Richard Frederick visa matter. Ditto Wikileaks: first Rick indicated he wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole; now the Star is ignoring all it says about Rick’s friends in government and selecting needles from the haystack to pin-prick the Labour Party.

A friend e-mailed me to say she was surprised that Rick was “attending UWP meetings and behaving like Darnley Lebourne, Denis Springer, Egbert Andrew and the fellers at GIS and NTN don’t know their elbows from their foreheads.” I wrote back to enlighten her: “Nothing new, my girl. He’s been there, done that. He was once Editor of the Vanguard, the UWP’s official newspaper; and he was also once Personal Assistant to Prime Minister John Compton. You can’t keep up with him…”
After Rick said he’d written Stephenson King’s Martin Luther King speech so long ago, after the PM took the Star’s advice to address the nation on Grynberg and after Rick started upping his ante on all the talk shows from abroad, I don’t see why anyone should be surprised that the Star would become an explainer of official misbehavior. (Reminds me of a savvy veteran ex-prison inmate who, as an experienced offender, would instruct first offenders about to go to court to plead “Guilty with explanation…”) I mean, Didn’t Rick just say this week that Frederick made a mistake by resigning? Didn’t he say Frederick was foolish to fall for the Labour Party’s weekly pressure and throw in the towel?
What the people worrying about Rick’s latest volte face need to understand is that the man is human and mortal. He may have sounded all his life like he never felt he could ever get sick, but we all know what the human body is made of. Rick didn’t do like Steve Jobs and hold back on his health details till doomsday. From what we know, we must understand that things are no longer normal with Rick. There are things he would like to see happen – and happen quick, quick, quick. Evidently, his main agenda item -- right now -- is the return of the UWP, which is the only way to keep his ex-friend Kenny Anthony out of the PM’s Office. So then, why be surprised if he takes over the entire UWP propaganda machinery and moves it into his i-Pad and his i-Pod and runs the whole thing from between Coubaril and Miami, the Star and the Talk, between now and Election Day? Fact is, I wouldn’t even be surprised if Rick went to dip his finger in the red ink at the ballot box!
His critics and those wishing to see his back after the next elections say time is not on his side. But Rick has a different take on life and longevity. If anything or everything else about him has changed, certainly not his belief in himself. Contrary to the naysayers counting his days, he’s promised that he’ll still be around, talking and starring, for another five years. That’s as far away as the next general election after the next general election. (By which time Rick will also have become age-old.) But, long before that, just around the corner, is the first next general election – and Rick’s first big real life test of late, which he’s sworn to himself he just cannot fail to pass.
The return of Rick’s Talk this weekend, therefore, doesn’t surprise me one single bit. Not being a Talk Citizen, being very choosy about what stations I tune into among the scores available to me every minute of the day, and, not knowing what mood I’ll be in, or what I’ll be doing when the Lone Ranger rides back into town on his electronic Tonto tomorrow night, I can’t say I’ll be at that particular theatre.
All I can say is that nothing Rick can or will say tomorrow evening – or thereafter – will surprise me. I just happen to know him too well for that!
(This article was written and submitted prior to the airing of Rick’s first show on Choice TV)

   Home Affairs Minister Senator Guy Mayers has called out for public assistance in solving the last in a series of deadly incidents over the week-end. He was speaking at a UWP meeting in Anse-la-Raye – hours after the body of a Glasgow Hill, Marisule resident was found. The Home Affairs Minister called on Saint Lucians to work with the Police to solve the crime that had the homicide rate now peaking in the forties.


The Minister also spoke of the government’s latest attempt at arresting the crime situation on the island – United against Crime. Declaring the Police cannot do it alone – Senator Mayers says it was every citizen’s responsibility to stamp crime out of the society.

The UWP Anse-la-Raye meeting was held on Sunday. A number of UWP candidates were at the gathering in support of MP and UWP candidate for the area – Dr Keith Mondesir. The Health Minister will face SLP candidate Dr Desmond Long for the seat.

   Attorney General Senator Lorenzo Francis has denied knowledge of the case file his office is said to have against Castries Central MP Richard Frederick. The case file in question is said to contain forms requesting additional information on the Customs fraud case the MP was detained for in 2007; the alleged under invoicing of two vehicles he imported from the US. Before he was transferred and subsequently resigned from the civil service – former Customs Comptroller


Terrance Leonard said legal impediments were keeping him from prosecuting Frederick. While he never said what those were – we understand they began and ended with the Attorney General’s office at the time under the stewardship of Dr Nicholas Frederick. Francis – who replaced a dismissed Dr Frederick – had this to say on that case file. Dr Kenny Anthony re-visited the case that led to the detention of the then newly sworn in Housing Minister during his address at the SLP Castries East constituency conference on Sunday. In reference to the revocation of the US visas belonging to Frederick – Dr Anthony says the US acted because the Prime Minister did not do what he had to based on the Customs investigation.

The SLP Political Leader is also demanding the Prime Minister come clean about the results of his investigation into the matter. And while the Castries Central MP and Prime Minister have not said why the US revoked Frederick’s diplomatic and visitor visas – Dr Anthony is also asking if it had anything to do with what he says is pure speculation.

Dr Kenny Anthony says despite the government’s best efforts – the matter of the US visa revocations will not go away. He also warned whichever Party is elected into government will have to deal with whatever fall out will come from the matter.