He is certainly not a product of Canada or Martinique. He is the product of the union of Auguste Pierre, a policeman of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, and Evelyn Jn. Baptiste, a certified teacher of the Roman Catholic Ave Maria Girls’ School of Castries.
Auguste Pierre, his father, was a Saint Lucian pioneer in national security as he joined the Police Force at a time when Saint Lucians disliked the Police; as the majority were non-Saint Lucians, mainly from Barbados, and were considered colonial enforcers. In those days, Saint Lucians derided the police and referred them as “Bòben waya wouyé.” However, after much difficulty on the part of his superiors and through hard work, perseverance, loyalty, dedication and honesty, he was one of the few Saint Lucians who rose to the rank of sargent.
Auguste Pierre imbued into his son, Philip, the values of hard work and honesty, respect for the law, respect for life and respect for the elders in the society.
With his father a staunch member of the Holy Name Society of the Roman Catholic Church, Philip had to tag along on his coat–tails when he attended the religious and other activities of the confraternity. Thus, Philip soon understood the value of participation in matters of a religious nature such as Corpus Christi. Now, also he knows the value and importance of other marches and public expressions, including those of a political nature.
Auguste was also a member of the St. Vincent de Paul Society which was responsible for the Catholic Poor House. Thus, Philip was exposed to the care and maintenance of the indigent in the community at an early age.
Philip’s mother was an off-shoot of the well-known respected and beloved Jn. Baptiste family of Choiseul. She was one of a group of Choiseulian teachers including the likes of Julia Jn. Baptiste, Catherine Joseph, Peter Joseph, Theresa Darcheville, Raymond John, Basil De Couteau, and Harold Rosemond, who, because of their dedication and competence in pedagogical skills, were transferred to the premier Roman Catholic Infant and Primary Schools in Castries. Ms. Evelyn was considered to be a “Poto” of the Ave Maria Girls School. She was an educator par excellence who taught the scholarship class for decades with a significant measure of success. Ms. Evelyn was a quiet, humble, staunch and ardent member of the Catholic faith and believed in the power of prayer and worship.
Philip’s grandmother who hailed from Choiseul made him appreciate the value and virtues of rural living, particularly the benefits to be derived from consuming local fresh fruits such as bananas, papaya and soursop. He was brought up on her famous pumpkin soup which was also a favourite of her other grandchildren Winston and Selwyn Parris, accompanied by their friends, including your humble servant. In addition, Philip was fed on her native Choiseulian menu of kiliwou, balawou, red snapper, flying fish, ton (tuna), patat (sweet potato), banana, yam blanc, pwa angòl (pigeon peas), and not on Irish potatoes and T-bone steaks. Thus, growing up, Philip had a continuous JOUNEN KWEYOL experience.
His lived Kwéyòl experience is undoubtedly manifested through his support for the preservation and conservation of national heritage through the support of institutions such as the Folk Research Centre, Cultural Development Foundation as well as individual community ceremonies and festivals such as La Rose and La Maguerite. Incidentally, Philip’s grandmother was an ardent follower of the Maguerite as she was born on that feast day.
This kind of upbringing has made Philip a natural defender and active supporter of teachers, religious officials, policemen, folk performers, the underdog, the poor, the indigent and the elderly. Their benefaction have been guaranteed adequate, infrastructural, financial, technical and other forms of support in his budgetary allocations as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. He will certainly put them first and take care of them.
It should be clear that Philip’s spiritual, historical, political and cultural outlook had its radix morphogenesis in his humble, genuinely simple and grounded Saint Lucian upbringing. The preservation of the family house at Water Works Road is illustrative of his understanding of what heritage and patrimony is all about. That simple action on his part indicates that he was his own NATIONAL TRUST. Thus, under Philip, without a doubt, the Saint Lucia National Trust will be fully respected and its subvention guaranteed. He did not destroy (as some tend to enjoy doing) the old family house. Instead, he renovated it and built himself a completely new modern home on their property. This act shows respect for the past while at the same time embracing modernity and is truly characteristic of visionary leadership. In other words, he built on the legacy of his forebears.
The primary school education that Philip received at the St. Aloysius R. C. Boys School under the tutelage of his cousin, Catherine Joseph, and Matthew Abby St. Clair prepared him adequately for his attendance at the St. Mary’s College. He sailed through the waters of St. Mary’s with relative ease and after his ‘A’ Levels was appointed a Junior Master at his alma mater. It is reported that he was an excellent Geography teacher in the same mold as one of his mentors, the stalwart, supreme Geography Master, Mr. Harold ‘MAPIE’ Haynes. He pursued his tertiary level education at the Cave Hill Campus at the University of the West Indies where he concentrated on the three greats – History, Politics and Economics. Later on, he was among the first cohort of business executives to gain a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the newly minted Cave Hill School of Business.
After working in private sector establishments such as J. Q. Charles Ltd. and renowned accounting firms like Coopers and Lybrand and Pannell Kerr Forster (PKF), he took the brave step of establishing his own accounting management consultancy firm. This was the first time that a local Saint Lucian born graduate from UWI had shown such independent entrepreneurial spirit. Philip’s firm provided satisfactory services in finance, accounting and management, consulting to a wide and varied clientele in Saint Lucia’s commercial and business space, as well as international institutions such as the OECS, CDB and the European Union. The survival of his firm, in competition with well-established international firms like BDO, KPMG, PKF, Grant Thornton and Ernst and Young, speaks volumes of Philip’s reliability, industry, competence and leadership skills. His experience in the business environment has given him a thorough understanding of the internal workings of the nation’s economy.
Philip’s plunge into the political arena showed the boldness of the man. After initial failure against the seemingly indomitable Romanus Lansiquot, he persevered and defeated him in 1997. Since then, he has exhibited tremendous organising and leadership skills in guiding and directing the Castries East Constituency Group. The majority of the officials of the Saint Lucia Labour Party recognise the Castries East Constituency Group as the best managed group in the Party, as evidenced in the conduct of their annual Constituency Conferences.
In 1997, Philip entered the Cabinet of Dr. Anthony, who over a period of time assigned him several portfolios. Thus, Philip has had direction and control of the ministries covering Commerce, Industry, Trade, Consumer Affairs, Tourism, Financial Services, Investment, Infrastructure, Communications, Transport and Ports. His performance in all these portfolios has always been more than satisfactory.
Dr. Anthony, the natural educator that he is, conducted his cabinet in a collegiate manner. It takes a good leader to produce a good leader. It also takes a good, progressive follower to be a good leader. Philip, the astute, absorptive, loyal, perceptive follower, certainly learnt from the modus operandi of Dr. Anthony. Thus, Philip’s Cabinet life certainly placed him in a very good position to manage the affairs of state. He has been most adequately prepared.
The man, Philip Joseph Pierre, possess several personal characteristics and qualities that have allowed him to guide and lead this country through the rough waters, head winds and storms of the political, social and economic environments. Philip is a gentle, quiet well mannered, thoughtful man of humility and character. His truthfulness, trustworthiness and faithfulness are as fixed as the Northern Star. He has been a bold, courageous and visionary leader, not afraid to initiate, establish, build and maintain innovative enterprises. He has been respectful, reliable, confidential and honest in his dealings with people of all shades and walks of life. He shows particular and exceptional respect for elders and their contributions, which he recognises and incorporates in crafting new endeavours. Above all, his humility, humanity and loyalty to his friends, colleagues, institutional principals, constituents, party and country is beyond doubt. Finally, his respect for authority and more particularly the rules, regulations and conventions of parliamentary procedures and to the Constitution and Laws of Saint Lucia are unimpeachable.
Philip Joseph Pierre had been more than adequately prepared to be the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia. Besides having adequate knowledge, understanding of the inner intricacies of economic development, he had the experience in governance of several areas of State Craft. He has been able to satisfy the demands of constituency affairs to a reasonable level, even under severe budgetary constraints. He is a believer that good governance of the public purse must be executed in such a way that tangible benefits are felt at the grassroots level. In that regard, as Minister of Finance, he adjusts the budgetary allocation process to ensure that parliamentarians are more effective in delivering and meeting the simple yet important needs of constituents. His utilisation of a Capillary Economics approach to development is innovative, especially his Youth Economy Programme.
The results and achievement of the first term of Philip J. Pierre’s Government have been well documented in the Saint Lucia Labour Party’s document “FROM PROMISES TO REALITY.” The major areas dealt with are: Growing the Economy and Supporting Families; Building a Youth Economy; Cutting Taxes; Better Pay and Pensions; Protecting Citizenship; Infrastructure; Modernization of Air and Sea Ports; Protecting Heritage; Clean Energy; Food Security; The Blue Economy; Supporting Families; Supporting Business; Strengthening Education; Better Healthcare; Housing; Justice; Citizen Security; Boosting Tourism; Cultural Development; Youth Talent and Sport; Major New Investments; and Modernising Public Service.
Surely, it is certainly a remarkable coverage that has been achieved in just four years and four months.
In recent times, the ominous clouds of those who desire a return to autocratic, dictatorial, neo-colonialistic governance have appeared in the political and local environment. Statements attempting to assert that there was something good in the “conscience” of colonialism and other malignant utterances which seem to have come more from a slave master than an individual desirous of leading this country, are truly disturbing. The massa-like behaviour of a certain individual in the House of Parliament has clearly shown disrespect for our hallowed institutions. The refusal to abide by certain pronouncements from several Speakers of the House of Assembly certainly sends the wrong signal to our youth.
Another disturbing feature is the rise of the house slave mentality, a phenomenon which I encountered and faced head-on when negotiating with Cable and Wireless during the process of liberalization of the Telecommunications Sector. The perfect example was Massa controlling, firing and appointing of Customs heads until he could find one of an unfortunate mindset to do his bidding in the extreme harassment of Ernest Hilaire. The buying of Boroughs as occurred with West Indian Colonialists in the English House of Parliament has returned, and has provided an opportunity for nursing the house slave mentality on a larger scale.
I believe that Philip, with his study and knowledge of History, Political Science and Economies, as well as his long political experience, is more than capable to steer Saint Lucia clear of the destructive nexus of imperialism, slavery, unbridled capitalism, racism, colonialism and neo–colonialism.
Philip is well aware that these clouds – which seek to portray themselves on the surface as white and full of fluff – are not only vacuous and full of bluff, but also filled with severe turbulence. This turbulence is intent to pull our craft of state to destruction through victimization, revenge, nepotism, cronyism, corruption, oppressive policy reversals and puppeteering for external neo-colonialist forces.
Philip is the most suitable captain to steer the country clear from the hidden desires of these neo-colonialist clouds.
As the renowned West Indian luminary, Dr. Eric Williams, of “Capitalism and Slavery” fame, sought to end his book with, when he said: “MASSA DAY DONE.”
MASSA must “NEVER NEVER NEVER” be allowed to raise his ugly head again!
By Sir Calixte George