Odlum Signals Break With Labour - March 21, 2001

By Earl Bousquet  

It was a week during which the Foreign Affairs Minister offered his strongest reaction to date to the realignment of four constituency boundaries, signaling he may not contest the next general election on a Labour Party ticket. It was also a week during which the much-touted opposition “Alliance” was pronounced “dead”, but there was also evidence it was still very much alive, while the nation rallied around the Prime Minister’s wife following her recent ordeal in Barbados.

            The nation offered an outpouring of support for Dr Rose Marie Belle Antoine-Anthony, with statements and declarations of concern and support for Dr Antoine-Anthony following her ordeal at the hands of Barbadian policemen during a student protest at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI).

            Telephone calls, cards and bouquets flowed to the Prime Minister’s Residence in the days following last Wednesday’s incident, which led to the arrest and subsequent charging of the Prime Minister’s wife and nine non-Barbadian students.

            Mrs Anthony, who was not part of the protest, had tried to mediate in the dispute when the heavily armed police contingent moved in with teargas and other battle wear. Since then, the University Administration has condemned the action and called for a judicial inquiry into the incident. The Cave Hill administration has also met most of the demands of the students.

            On Monday, however, Dr Antoine-Anthony’s fellow Cave Hill lecturers participated in a protest action in solidarity with her.

            Foreign Affairs Minister George Odlum seemed this past week to have beaten a hasty retreat about his declared intention to join the proposed alliance. In various media interviews, the minister sought to explain why he decided against appearing at the scheduled launching of the proposed alliance. But he also insisted he still supported the idea.

            Mr Odlum insisted the realignment of the  constituency boundaries -- as adopted by Cabinet and the House of Assembly at its March 20 sitting – was intended to ensure he lost the next general election.

            Prime Minister Anthony said the government opted not to undertake the addition of two seats proposed by the Constituency Boundaries Commission, due to finance and resource considerations. He also said the boundaries of several Castries basin seats had been realigned to address constitutional deficiencies relating to the propostional size of each constituency.

The Prime Minister explained that since Castries Central remained disproportionate to the neighbouring constituencies, certain realignments were made to Castries North East, Castries East and Castries North West Babonneau to increase the size of Castries Central. As a consequence, some areas in each of the four affected constituencies had to be relocated, resulting in voters in those areas having to vote in another constituency.

But the Foreign Affairs Minister – who is the current MP for Castries North East – insists the exercise was carried with him in mind.

In parliament last week, Mr Odlum accused his Cabinet colleagues of “Georgie-mandering” to erase his chances of victory at the polls.

On Monday evening, however, amid much speculation that he was about to make a major political announcement regarding his future with the ruling Labour Party, Mr Odlum was reported on DBS TV as expressing doubt about contesting the seat on a Labour Party ticket at the next election.

Accusing his Cabinet colleagues of being “calculated and sinister”, he said the realignment was “the most unkindest cut of all” that had resulted in “taking away my political base completely.”

Mr Odlum said there was “no excuse for that type of ingratitude” from his Labour Party colleagues and their body language left him with the impression that “they want me to go.” He said he felt “hurt, slighted and marginalised” by his colleagues and was therefore unsure of “my place in the pecking order of government.”

The minister said that as a result of the realignment of the boundaries, “my constituents have given me a carte blanche” to do as he pleases for the next election.

However, Government sources have denied any sinister motive behind the realignment, saying it was the result of an exercise that took over two years of consideration by the appropriate bodies, including the Boundaries Commission, and consultancies by the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Commonwealth Secretariat.

According to the sources, there will first have to be “a run-off” to endorse a candidate in each of the affected seats. But, they added, the eventual Labour Party candidate for the new Castries North seat will not be the only one losing a few traditional areas and having to contest in new areas, as a similar situation will face the candidates for the Castries East, Castries Central and Babonneau seats.

Mr Odlum’s future with the Government he has publicly acknowledged he is dissatisfied with and was willing to join an alliance against was still very much a matter of public speculation yesterday, with reports he would later this week be making a major political pronouncement on his future.

It was suggested in several local media reports this past week that the proposed “Alliance” was dead. On Friday – in what one radio reporter described as “an obituary” – the Mirror newspaper chronicled the emergence of the alliance idea and what is described as the ultimate “Death of a Dream.”

 Unfolding developments over the past few days pointed to the possible dismantling of the alliance after it was reported that former UWP Leader Sir John Compton had refused to accept a 9-1 vote by his alliance colleagues for Mr Odlum to be leader of the proposed grouping. Soon thereafter, CANA’s Ernie Seon reported that Sir John “has been asked to become Chairman of the Alliance.”

Radio 100’s Sam “Jook Bwa” Flood also reported that Sir John had telephoned the Foreign Affairs Minister on his way to his March 15 Talk interview with Rick Wayne to tell him that plans for launching the alliance a few days later were off.

Meanwhile, the opposition United Workers Party (UWP), which had earlier announced it was abandoning its name and symbol to accommodate the launching of the alliance, has this past week had to make an about-turn and revive its earlier plans to contest the election as a single entity.

The party also announced it was resuming its campaign to re-ignite interest in its platform for the next election, while members of the leadership indicated the part would also now re-erect its illuminated sign, which had been taken down from the party’s Sans Soucis headquarters.

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