WHO WILL SLAY THE DRAGON II..........WHO IS THE REAL BOSS OF CENTRAL?

Things were tough. A job was a job. But people fought it down.

There was a time in Central Castries when it seemed like almost everyone was working. Whether it was half day or whole day, daily paid or  salaried,  people who hadn't held a salaried job for years, or  maybe forever, suddenly found themselves considered employable, reliable and desirable.

The situation was so intense that drug addicts could not find their dealers  during working hours. People who were making money outside the law were actually forgoing that income, at least for part  of  the day. It appealed to their honor. He appealed to their honor.

It was not so long ago.

The methods by which these unemployables got jobs and salaries was widely criticized  and narrowly condemned. The whole thing blew up in a scandal that showed  that while some people had received money while not working, the person who took the most heat did not seem to have gotten away with any gains himself.

The scandal had a nice, neat, very marketable name and so  it became a brand name slogan for the then opposition. It became part of a vector of three or four brand slogans that helped lead to voting that government out of office.

The scandal seemed to end any political aspirations on the part of the man who cheated on behalf of people who, otherwise, would not have had a steady, secure and or legal income.

The vacuum created when the Old Boss left was filled by something Kenny called 'most dangerous'

However:

The people who got those jobs, both those who worked honestly and those who did not, remember only one thing about that time: The Boss was the first and only person in their life who gave them the honor of a steady job and a secure income.

Furthermore his methods became part of standard practice and policy for every successive government since then.

For people who don't have a hard time getting jobs, it doesn't seem like much. But for people who hadn't had a job for the entire 15 years since leaving secondary school, it was unforgettable. He would always be The Boss to them.

Once The Boss was gone, things deteriorated. Labour lost their way and in 2006, the new boss came along and changed everything. He appealed to their pragmatism. He appealed to their basic needs.

Top of the World, Ma! (dammit, these kids don't know James Cagney...)

If Labour is serious about 'the danger of Richard Frederick' they will stop sending sacrificial lambs to the slaughter against him in elections. They have so far damaged three good men in the process of trying to win Castries Central back.

If they are serious, they will swallow their pride and fear, get their story straight and then go looking for the one man who can put the fear of  losing into the invincible Richard Frederick. A man who was seen to ice basic needs politics with honor. The only person who elevated them to the status of NIC contributor.

The only other man who has equal if not more claim as Richard Frederick to the title, 'The Boss.'

I hear he's not on contract overseas anymore.

Hey Richard...'THIS TOWN AIN'T BIG ENOUGH FOR  THE TWO OF US...'