By Kurt Reynolds
By reliable account, it appears that former St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister James Mitchell, a lifelong close friend of deceased Sir John Compton, has averted disaster for the Stephenson King administration. The STAR was reliably informed at press time that Mitchell has been in St Lucia holding private meetings with top-echelon UWP officials in a desperate attempt to save the King government from imploding over the Ausbert d’Auvergne controversy.
According to sources close to the governing party Mitchell made it absolutely clear to King that his standing by Senator Ausbert d’Auvergne—minister for economic affairs, planning, investment and national development—against at least four elected MPs could prove expensive to a sixteen-month-old government that was yet to establish itself in the eyes of the St Lucian public.
On Monday MPs Rufus Bousquet and Marcus Nicholas joined other members of King’s government, including Ausbert d’Auvergne, in an attempt to bring some closure to a problem that King has been grappling with almost since the passing of Sir John on September 7, 2006.By all accounts it was a particularly heated meeting during which Nicholas and Bousquet in particular, insisted that King dispatch Ausbert d’Auvergne or else.
By reliable accounts, Guy Joseph, minister of communications and works, supported the need to settle the issue and pointed out to King that the Ausbert d’Auvergne affair was having a major negative impact on the government. Said Joseph: Morale at government departments had never been lower.
Not to be left out Micoud North MP, Jeannine Compton, laid down her own gauntlet. If Bousquet is returned to Cabinet she said she would in turn resign. That move would have the effect of preventing King from giving any portfolios to Marcus Nicholas, who is the current deputy speaker and who might have been replaced by the new Compton. That little matter was later settled when Nicholas said he was not interested in any portfolios, that all he wanted was that d’Auvergne be sacked and Rufus Bousquet treated fairly. That particular meeting adjourned inconclusively.
The plan was to meet again the following day but that was shelved in favour of the funeral of slain police officer Lester Remy in Choiseul. Early on yesterday morning the group reconvened. The meeting lasted for several hours. At lunchtime the word from sources close to the government was that King had agreed to reinstating Bousquet as a Cabinet member. Yet to be determined are the portfolios for which he will take responsibility. A definite date for Bousquet’s return to Cabinet will be determined, according to reliable reports, in a few days.
In the mean time the word is that Ausbert d’Auvergne may still be retained but not in his present capacities. All efforts to reach Ausbert d’Auvergne for a comment at press time proved futile. The issue of d’Auvergne’s power in the Cabinet was one of Bousquet’s main concerns when he delivered his much talked about contribution to the Budget debate on April 24.
Said Bousquet: "Madam Speaker, there are insidious and dangerous forces at work in the back rooms of government and they are not sitting on the opposition benches. Neither are they sitting on the government benches. Yet their DNA is all over this budgetary crime scene. And if you allow this budget to pass without comment or action, there will be 17 judgments against this House.
One for every member who fails and sacrifices ethics and principals on the alter of expedience . . . Every member on this side of the House knows what I am talking about . . . It is time for action. It is time that elected members who know very little about what’s going on within the deep confines of management, stand up and be counted . . . Stop taking the blame, stop being the cannon fodder left here like willing sheep to be slaughtered by the opposition on matters you know little about."
Speaking with STAR a few days later Bousquet referred directly to the issue of Senator Ausbert d’Auvergne’s influence in government. "The main thing for me is that I think d’Auvergne should go and I don’t think he should have the influence that he does in the decision-making process. I also think that Mr [Allen] Chastanet cannot be given a blank cheque of $50 million to do as he pleases. Finally, I think we have to revisit the budget. We have to make it a budget that is more socially oriented and deals with the needs of the people."
Meanwhile, Marcus Nicholas was adding his own fuel to the controversy. In an interview with DBS’s Pete Ninvalle the Dennery North MP said: "You have a situation whereby there is a senator who is the minister of economic affairs and it is expected that the economic affairs minister would bring the members of the government together so that we can look at the whole vision and development of the country . . . The senator has failed through his economic plans to bring the government together so that we could sit down and all the elected members could put their thoughts down."
The MP’s position was clear: "I believe d’Auvergne must go and if he continues to remain a senator of the UWP we are going to find ourselves in serious problems. I have made up my mind. I am like a peg in the party . . . and it’s not only me, there are a number of us." It now appears that the numbers were too overwhelming for Prime Minister King, who had told reporters last week that he would not be pressured into firing any member of his Cabinet.
Said King: "Ausbert d’Auvergne is a member of Cabinet. It is the prime minister to determine the composition of his Cabinet. I am not aware there is a question about whether Mr Ausbert stays or goes. He is a member of Cabinet and the prime minister determines at any time what his Cabinet should comprise of and so that is it!"
Rufus Bousquet was fired from the post of foreign affairs minister early last year shortly after the government made a controversial move to sever diplomatic relations with China in favour of Taiwan. After Sir John’s death Stephenson King assumed prime ministership and named his new Cabinet which did not include Bousquet. It was widely rumoured that Bousquet had been promised reinstatement for his support of King as the head honcho.
Shortly before we went to press I contacted Prime Minister King. I said: "I am calling to find out whether Rufus Bousquet will be returned to Cabinet as the rumours suggest and whether Ausbert d’Auvergne will be fired from his current post." The prime minister replied: "I don’t know anything about that. What are you talking about?" I repeated my question. Once more the prime minister denied all knowledge of yesterday’s meeting: "I know nothing of what you are talking about."