Political parties are in the business of politics to win. Right now you are not. You will not win if you persist in fielding Jahmale Pringle as your leader. He does not have a winner’s co-ordinates.

He is seen in the country as a nice guy who is an ‘also ran’ but does not have the personality nor capability to ignite the spark that entices others to follow him into an internecine war which it will take to wrest power from a man who is firmly entrenched and is using the resources of the state to maintain his dictatorial rule.

There is a saying that “what go bad a night can’t come good a morning”, or something like that. My father used to say this frequently before I went off to study to make my mark and Antigua proud. This was his veiled warning to me.

UPP went off the rails in 2019 when it used subterfuge to annihilate Richard Lewis from the race for leadership. It was there for all to see (the coincidental loss by all members of Lewis’s slate at the convention by almost exact amount of votes, etc).

At the time it did not seem so detrimental because he was competing against Harold Lovell who saw the wisdom of reaching out to Lewis for a coalition, but did not dare because he knew how he had gained the leadership and who were the architects of his resounding victory.

After all, it was Lovell himself who chose Lewis as his undisputed successor following his lost at the polls and his decision to walk away. History shows what a bad job he did of changing his mind. He never told Lewis that he was back in play. There might have been a different path for Antigua and Barbuda if he had.

Fast forward to 2024. Lewis had put in the work and the branches were rewarding him by throwing their support behind him. Again the subterfuge, now more refined because it introduced funding from questionable external sources to ensure that the status quo remained the same.

In retrospect, Baldwin Spencer and Harold Lovell should take some blame for their acceptance at that convention of a system that was undoubtedly rigged to produce the results it did. It could be that, by that time, their leadership had corroded so much that they might have been powerless to prevent the outcome which led to the consolidation of the chairman who anointed herself on the convention floor, and together with her hand-chosen hitmen, ensured that she would not lose power through the leadership of Jahmale Pringle.

Since then, it has all gone downhill. The schism in the party became more and more pronounced. There was a gradual distancing from those who felt that Lewis was hard-done, and there emerged a phalanx of those who were willing to emulate the Labour Party playbook of bovine allegiance to the chairman and her inner circle of chosen courtiers.

So where is the UPP today? Any student of politics worth his salt would say on the verge of extinction. The stalwarts are in the rear view mirror and the new converts who have not had the opportunity to learn at their feet are bringing their own style of sycophancy. Some it is felt are using the party as a placeholder and just biding their time when they make their move for personal honour and glory.

The former MPs have been verbally lambasted by their own party, and it is doubtful whether they would have any desire to become gluttons for political punishment. After all, a four-time consecutive beat-down is not a palatable meal to ingest politically.

Staunch UPP supporters are heartsick to see what their mighty party has become. Some are still in denial, some are whispering for change, and a few who have had enough are talking outright upheaval. This groundswell is still far out at sea.

However, the current leadership is stubbornly unaware that the public has seen their game. The chairman seems to be happy to go full circle to her days as supreme leader of a bevy of female members who are contented to hold barbecues and food fairs as was done in the old days in a famous women’s organization that she once led, and maybe still leads.

The current leader is contented to promote his business of which the current administration is a strategic client, and to make the occasional incursion into revisionist politics on behalf of the party.

So is it time to sing the funeral dirge for the UPP? Yes.

As said before, few have been willing to step forward and say Pringle cannot lead the party to victory, therefore everybody was wasting their time.

As long as Jahmale Pringle is the leader of the United Progressive Party, there will be no future for the UPP as the ruling administration of Antigua and Barbuda.

Word of advice to Richard Lewis and Kelvin Simon. If you are still interested in representing your country politically, you should leave now. There is no future for you in the UPP.

Trident