By Lloyd Noel Inside Grenada Columnist From all the bits and pieces and the underground grapevine news coming my way, I am very concerned that we are a society in crisis, because as a people we are failing to recognise the primacy of the human element in what we are doing, and how we are hoping and planning to get to that earthly promised land. It is my considered opinion that no society can be great, or hope to achieve greatness, where those who rule it and occupy leadership positions see the people as objects of cynical manipulation, and see the country itself as a canvass on which to paint a picture of personal power and ideological pipedreams. It must be accepted as an undeniable fact of life, that men and women are obviously not equal in talent, and will often times see and express different points of view on various issues as they consider the importance of the issue, but that must not be allowed to cover up the central purpose of an organised society, which is the promotion and achievement of the welfare of every member of that society. Against those basic principles for ensuring there is equality of purpose and opportunity for all, no group in an organised society has the right to act without regard to the interest of a whole of that society, so that the primacy of the individual will be clear legally, clear morally and clear practically. Having said all the above, I am also well aware that the democracy we are supposed to be practicing in these Isles, carry with it some measure of decision making and independent thinking that must be exercised in accordance with the public declaration of the policy and principles of the group or party which succeeded at the polls. And while in doing so the leaders have to inform the public and dialogue with the people, before making far reaching and in-depth decisions, they cannot be expected to take a public vote every time an important issue crops up. But the people also expect those leaders to act in a responsible manner, in the interest of the people as a whole. In so doing, those leaders as equals from the point of view of having been elected by the people in their respective constituencies, they also have to recognise and accept, that in our brand of political upbringing, the recognised leader of the pack carriers a certain measure of publicly recognised extras, that would have assisted them greatly in their success at the polls. And that is so despite their individual popularity. And although the leader, as the eventual Prime Minister, does not carry the same weight as for example the President in the United States of America system of government, he nevertheless is the first among equals (Primus Inter Pares) having been so appointed by the Governor General of behalf of her Majesty as the Head of State under our constitution. And I am making bold to say up front that if our current Prime Minister, Tillman Thomas, was not leading the other ten members of Parliament who now make up the government of the NDC party in power, they could not have been where they are today. I have gone into all the foregoing details, because I have been apprised of some very disquieting news, touching and concerning the government and party now in the driving seat, and responsible for controlling the ship of state in these undoubtedly troubled times. I must say up front, that I sincerely hope the said very uncomfortable news is not true and just the usual propaganda and ongoing series of political melee we are so used to. But on the other hand, the eventual outcome could be so far reaching and devastating – if at all true – that it is more than highly worthwhile to inform John Public and put the society on notice, even as a very precautionary measure to forewarn such thinkers. The public at large have known for some time now that the Zublin group of investors, who transformed the Esplanade in downtown St George’s with the popular mall that provided the gateway, as cruise ships tourist passengers come off the modern terminals to enter the city and island as a whole, that the said company has proposed and submitted for approval, an adjoining development with a major hotel to include a casino and some 200-300 rooms; by reclaiming the sea space for the building and connecting the lagoon road via a ring road that will bypass the Carenage and go around the hospital to the existing mall and the proposed new hotel development. The proposal and submission have been in the pipeline at a preliminary stage, from the latter days of the NNP Government, but have since been crystalised into a high-tech modern development project, that could be the envy of any regional city. But the “Bug Bear” in the proposed development, is the application for a licence to operate the casino aspect in the hotel. While every sector of the society, or group of persons who are concerned about the economic development of our tri-island state and its people, are all more or less in favour of the hotel development, a fair cross-section of them are opposed to casino gambling. And because the developers consider the casino aspect – as the corner stone and key element of the whole development – their considered and very open and prudent economic position, drive them to the only business oriented conclusion they can possibly adopt, and that is “no casino, then no hotel development”. For a financial outlay of around three hundred eighty million dollars, to bring the whole development on stream, I am honour bound to say I fully agree with them. My information is that the prime minister is absolutely against casino gambling, in fact he has said as much on television and radio for public consumption. While I respect his position, although I firmly disagree with the basis on which he is relying to maintain that position, I must also say up front, that I feel very strongly, that for him to insist on his “no casino” aspect to enable his government to approve the development, that is very shortsighted and amounting almost to future economic suicide. On the moral and society degradation aspects, the prime minister and the other objectors know very well that the reasons being advanced to support their positions are hypocritical, to say the least. More organised gambling taking place in church groups, in highly respectable organizations, in the national stadium, in school groups, in the National Lottery Authority, you name it they doing it, and in most cases age is no barrier, come one, come all. Whereas in the case of casino gambling, in an highly respectable and organised hotel development setting, the rules and regulations that must accompany the granting of a licence, could take care of any irregularity, with heavy financial sanctions, and regular security inspections to deter transgressors. In fact, setting up the security arrangements to protect the society from evils that are feared, would in itself provide additional economic activity, both in the penalties for breaking the rules and for the personnel to ensure compliance. Having said all the above, however, the said disquieting news that raised my concerns are still very disturbing and are far more damaging to our people and the society as a whole, should the proposed plan of action be put into operation and succeed. My understanding is that there is a wide division in the government set up, and the gap has widened even more, because the party stalwarts at ground level have become involved in the melee. Because the majority in Cabinet disagree with the prime minister’s position on the hotel casino and they see the development as key to our fast dying economic strategy in tourism; and nothing on the visible horizon in agriculture, or any other sector that can come to our people’s rescue anytime soon. The two branches on the same side, have given an ultimatum to the current leader to step aside and let someone else assume the leadership position. I further understand that a delegation from the party as such, met with parliamentarians on the matter, although there is some confusion on who will take over. And to cloud the issue, in my view, but to make it all look as though it is more than just the casino matter that is causing concern, the delegation group have thrown in the dormant state of the party itself, as good reasons to make the change over now. The obvious danger inherent in any such proposal at this point in time is that, in my humble opinion, none of those cited as front runners to take over the leadership mantle, will be able to carry the country or the party as a whole to their advantage. The very much vaunted comments and criticisms, that surrounded the political marriage of obvious convenience, when the ex-PRG diehards and the long standing NDC stalwarts got together, to confront the NNP dominance of political power for all those years, those very sentiments will come back around to haunt them, with the theme of “we told you so, it is power they looking for”. And in that setting, the sufferers as usual will be the people of our tri-island state. As I said before, I honestly hope that the news item is mere wishful thinking, but I am sounding the warning bells none the less, so that the thought of such political suicide will remain just that. A lot of issues are out there and seemingly just hanging in midair. No one can doubt with any semblance of seriousness, that urgent actions are needed to try and bring about some solutions, but to embark on that method of operation, is tantamount to burning down a house in trying to get rid of a quiet bird on the inside. History will be very loath to forgive the perpetrators of this crazy scheme and more especially so, as I also understand that the schemers are even mouthing words like “being a true democrat who believes in democratic decisions, he should agree”. It all sounds and smells like “eighty-three” all over again, but this is December, not October. So as I take this opportunity to wish you, my dear readers, a peaceful and Blessed Christmas, let us all pray that His earthly coming will bring some measure of common sense and sanity, to the minds of those misguided patriots, who are temporarily blinded by the craze for power, that is conveniently disguised as more needed and speedier benefits and political solutions for the people.