ONE OF THE FIRST LESSONS of coup-making is that all the participants must be willing to see it through to completion or, alternatively, face the consequences together – “We must hang together, or we shall hang separately”.
“I am sorry” or “it wasn’t me” may work well for Shaggy, but diminishes the coup plotter in the eyes of the watching public. A coup cannot be half-planned nor can it be partly successful. Indeed, it is far more damaging to a politician’s image to have failed at a coup than it is to have initiated one.
Every step of the process from the final swearing-in of the new Cabinet or to the final walk to the gallows must be fore-thought. Failing this, the hand of the ruler is markedly strengthened, not only for having staved off an attack, but for exposing his attackers and for having them at his mercy.
Prime Minister Freundel Stuart finds himself far more strengthened on the week before Christmas 2011 than he was last year, when his fellow parliamentarians identified him as the one most likely to command the majority of the elected members. Then, his sense of obligation to his colleagues was palpable, especially since there were continuing claims that the deceased Prime Minister might have hinted at an alternative leader through his deathbed reshuffle. In addition, Stuart appeared to be victim of a well orchestrated campaign that insisted that the Thompson legacy must continue.
Whereas one year ago the hands of the Prime Minister appeared to have been tied by his intention to preserve and respect his inheritance, today he has been allowed the legitimacy to free his hands, ironically in the preservation of that same inheritance.
The clear and obvious option open to the Prime Minister, in light of a NATION newspaper report of disquiet and discontent by a significant number of his front bench, is to act in a manner that will preserve his power base firstly within his Cabinet. The absence of a Government in his own image and of his own making has been one of the enduring difficulties faced by Stuart. Whereas initially he was expected to reshuffle as a right, today the expectation is that he must.
Mixed policy and philosophy messages, divided loyalties in and out Government, maverick spokespersons loudly singing the praises of his rivals and intent on diminishing his stature have been some key features of his tenure thus far. The confluence of developments in his party over the last week has now meant that he can decisively reverse these tendencies.
In addition, the public nature of the rumours of challenges to his leadership has allowed Stuart a golden opportunity to test public sympathy with greater clarity than any poll.
The pendulum appears to have swung Stuartwise. He must act to keep it there.
Tennyson Joseph is a political scientist at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus specializing in regional affairs. Email tjoe2008@live.com
