Mr. Emmanuel Neville Cenac

I, Comrade Peter Lansiquot, repost with pride, the following. Read Lucians:

The Untenable Fraudster

"Being bestowed the title of Governor General is one of the highest honours one can attain in our country along with being the Chief Justice and Prime Minister. Whilst ceremonial, it is the most quintessential. It is not functional as is Prime Minister and Chief Justice but it is sacred.

Each of these title holders head one of the three constitutional arms of our Government, which provides a democratic society that we so enjoy.

The Prime Minister is the head of the Executive, which is the Ministers, who all have collective responsibility in setting out policy and security as the executive arm of Government.

Then you have the Chief Justice, who is the head of the Judiciary charged with the responsibility of being the guardian of our Constitution and the laws of the land.

The Governor General is the Head of Parliament and as such has to have the confidence and trust of all Parliamentarians. That is why there should be consultation with Her Majesty’s loyal Leader of the Opposition.

I have followed the arguments being made as to why Mr. Emmanuel Neville Cenac, self-styled "Chandèl Mol" should or should not be bestowed the honour of being the Governor General of Saint Lucia, which comes with all the attendant titles and honours, such as a knighthood from the Queen to be called "His Excellency Sir Emmanuel Neville Cenac" .

I have heard the following arguments – that he had crossed the floor; that he is too old; that the Office of Governor General should not revert to being a political football (that ended with Dame Pearlette Louisy); that he has numerous court judgements outstanding against him; that the Prime Minister is simply closing the gap for any constitutional coup d’état; and that he is a divisive figure which is contrary to what the Governor General should be.

I prefer to hold the simple view, yes simple but profound view, that unacceptable behaviour should not be rewarded.

We often wonder why our people of today are indifferent and do not feel or see the need to follow or abide or respect law and order, custom and conventions and be respectable, period. We just need to look at our actions which often times simply amount to - what I do is right but when you do it, it is wrong.

We are consistently rewarding wrongs and we love to equate wrongs or immoral behaviour to illegality. So if it is not illegal, then it is not wrong or immoral.

What Neville Cenac did was not illegal, it is not disallowed under our constitution nor prohibited under our laws but it was unconscionable. You may ask, unconscionable to whom? I say to the Electorate of Laborie and indeed the Saint Lucia Labour Party. Why? Because Neville Cenac was entrusted by the people of Laborie with their vote to be their representative as a member of the Saint Lucia Party and he betrayed that trust. And it gets worse.

According to his own writing in the Star Newspaper in 2013, it is clear that he agreed to cross the floor before the second elections of 1987. He committed a fraud on the people when he stood before them and said vote for me, vote for the Saint Lucia Labour Party with the full knowledge that he had agreed and had every intention to betray them by taking their votes mere days after the election to another party for his own self gains. This was not about the people, this was not about country, this was about a man who can be bought for the highest price which afforded him a house at Cap Estate which as Minister of Foreign Affairs, he rented out his newly bought mansion to the Taiwanese Embassy, with no shame or moral compunction. Imagine that, a foreign Government’s Embassy is located in a house owned by the local Minister of Foreign Affairs!

I see some people are saying it is his right to change his party. Yes that is his right but it is not his right to be deceitful. If he was so sure of himself, the right thing to have done was to resign from the Labour Party and then fight the elections under the United Workers Party, given he knew he had already agreed to go over to the United Workers Party.

What about the rumours that Stephenson King, Leonard Spider Montoute and others may have contemplated voting with Labour MPs to unseat Prime Minister Allen Chastenet?

Well voting with your fellow parliamentarians and indeed the opposition parliamentarians does not mean you have changed your Party but that you have merely exercised your right as to how you vote. After all, when the opposition says "I" along with the Government MPs on a bill, have they changed their Party allegiance? No, they have simply exercised their vote in their considered best interest of the electorate without switching party allegiance. They have committed no premeditated fraud on the electorate, they have merely placed country first.

Emmanuel Neville Cenac, the "Chandèl Mol", is simply a man who perpetuated fraud on the people of Laborie and the Saint Lucia Labour Party and having being rewarded Foreign Affairs Ministry and also an instant ability to afford a mansion in Cap Estate is now being further rewarded with a role that is supposed to be unifying and respected, that of Governor General of Saint Lucia.

Wonder why fraud and corruption are widespread in Saint Lucia? Wonder why young people have no faith in public institutions and little regard for customs and conventions? It is because of a Government which chooses our highest title holder to be a fraudster, an untenable fraudster."