Payback…for Ralphie! 

They say no matter how long it is, every rope has an end!! Ralph Gonsalves has been Prime Minister of St Vincent since 2001 – and for the longest while, he behaved like he’d be there for another twenty-five years at least!! But in a most humiliating turn of events, he and his Unity Labour Party (ULP) were just thrown out of office on his ears!! His political opponent Goodwin Friday’s New Democratic Party (NDP) won 14 of the 15 seats in their just concluded General Elections. During the election campaign, he’d arrogantly brushed aside polls that indicated his bid for his sixth term was doomed!!
So what about the “incumbency advantage” that has popped into common usage here – after the EU-EOM strained mightily at the bit to deny the PPP’s achievements for victory?? Well, Ralphie being given the bum’s rush shows there can also be an “incumbency fatigue” – when the electorate has had up to the gills with the cumulative lies, deception, mistakes and arrogance that seem to infect politicians who’ve been in office for a while!!
Born in the post-WWII mid-forties, Ralphie was from that generation that was heavily involved in the leftist anti-colonial wave then sweeping the Third World during the sixties and seventies!! He liked being called “Comrade Ralph”!! In charge of an island that depended almost totally on bananas and tourism, he just didn’t do enough to diversify the economy for its 110,000 populace’s well-being.
But the way he carried on with lecturing other countries, you’d think he was the leader of a superpower!! Your Eyewitness’ biggest beef with Ralphie was he was a staunch supporter of Mad Maduro – and tried to fob it off as being fellow leftists – when it was all due to the perks he got for sucking up to the madman!! He was a rabid supporter of the Venezuelan-launched and supported ALBA regional grouping – which gave reflexive support to Mad Maduro!! Not mentioned was that he got some of the deferred payments for the Venezuelan Petrocaribe oil written off for his obsequiousness!! He once tried to weasel his way out of that toadying when he claimed he wasn’t aware that a map of Venezuela – with Essequibo incorporated – was behind him in a photograph with Venezuelan officials!!
More recently, he had the temerity to criticise T&T’s PM Kamla Bissessar’s support for the US’ naval presence in the Caribbean to eradicate narco-trafficking by blowing up their boats!! Never mind that drugs are an even bigger problem in St Vincent than in T&T!! He even exchanged words with Kamla – and accused some from her party of supporting his opponent!!
Ironically, he might now be moving to T&T since his wife and kids just bought a home there!! Wanker!!

…finally for mad Maduro?
While we may be getting a tad confused by President Trump’s pronouncements on Mad Maduro and Venezuela, there’s a definite method to his (Trump’s) madness!! It would seem he likes to play both the “good cop” as well as the “bad cop”!! And what he’s been doing is slowly tightening the noose around the madman’s neck – so no one’s gonna be surprised when the support is yanked from under his legs and he’s left twisting in the wind!!
So after his navy kinetically took care of the narco-trafficking by sea, Trump let folks know that covert operations were being conducted inside the country. And then that Mad Maduro was willing to “talk”!! Well, yesterday he said, “You probably noticed that people aren’t wanting to be delivering by sea, and we’ll be starting to stop them by land also. The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon…”!!
So as the song goes, “Any day now, you’re gonna hear Mad Maduro say, ‘Goodbye to my dictatorial way’!!”

…for German rule
Folks forget Namibia was once a German protectorate, and they left some footprints!! A member of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) just retained his seat – held since 2004. His name?? Adolf Hitler Uunona!!