BY Tony Stewart
By all appearances, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has discovered a new love for West Indies cricket legends, but only as the sun begins to set on his reign.
After 25 years in power, the sudden urge to honour these heroes now feels less like reverence and more like a ruse. With elections on the horizon, what should have been a celebration of greatness reeks instead of desperation. It is not history he seeks to uplift, but his own fading political fortunes.
Where was this gratitude when the legends stood tall, still walking among us with the fire of youth and the weight of triumph? Right here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where was the recognition for Winston Davis? Where were the medals then, the fanfare, the charters, the staged photo ops wrapped in regionalism and nationalism?
Instead, they are summoned now, grey-haired and weathered, not for love of the game, but for the illusion of legacy. What was once a forgotten honour is now a prop in a political play.
Is it mere coincidence that this spectacle unfolds in the shadow of an election year? Or is it a calculated move to counter the rise of opposition candidate Dr. Kishore Shallow, President of Cricket West Indies and a man whose cricketing ties are earned, not borrowed for political mileage?
Dr. Shallow represents a new chapter, a living commitment to the sport Gonsalves now seeks to claim in hindsight. But there’s a difference between building a legacy and borrowing one. One requires work. The other requires only a microphone, a podium, and a taxpayer-funded celebration.
Make no mistake, this is not a gift of gratitude. It is state-sponsored theatre.
And it is the people who foot the bill. At a time when communities cry out for development, healthcare, and opportunity, public funds are being poured into grandiose displays of political nostalgia. Lavish receptions and celebrations. Processions dressed in patriotism but stitched with self-interest.
This is not honour, it is opportunism. Not patriotism, but performance.
The legends, true to form, stand with dignity. But the stage they’ve been placed on is shaky, built not from national pride but political panic.
Their legacies deserve better than to be reduced to being paraded as distractions from a government’s long, slow drift into irrelevance.
Accountability must now take the crease. The people deserve answers. How much was spent? Who approved it? And why now?
Because if power must cling to borrowed glory to feel legitimate, then perhaps its time has truly come.
Let the legends be honoured, but let them not be used. And let those who misuse the state’s purse for political gain be held to account. In cricket, the scoreboard never lies. Nor, in time, will history.
The Views expressed are not those of Asberth News Network