The United Progressive Party is now engaged in one of the most brazen acts of political hypocrisy in its modern history.
When Anthony Smith Jr. resigned from the UPP, he did not leave quietly.
He laid out clear reasons: a toxic internal culture, marginalization, poor leadership, and a party direction that no longer aligned with democratic principles or political reality. For this, he was pilloried.
His motives were questioned. His character was attacked. His decision was framed as treachery rather than conscience.
The party leadership under Chairman D. Gisele Isaac and Political Leader Jamale Pringle closed ranks. Supporters defended
the status quo with near-religious fervor. And many senior figures who knew better chose silence. Ironically Harold Lovell was over all party elections at the time.
Fast-forward a few months.
On Observer Radio, the masks slipped.
Kelvin “Shuggy” Simon, Algernon “Serpent” Watts, and Richard Lewis publicly articulated the same criticisms Anthony Smith Jr. was condemned for expressing:
– Leadership paralysis
– Poor strategic direction
– Internal dysfunction
– A chairmanship style viewed as divisive and authoritarian
– A political leader failing to inspire national confidence
Strangely, Gisele Isaac walk-out of the party peacemaking retreat was never discussed, what a big laugh.
Now, a growing faction within the UPP,
loudly backing Harold Lovell for the leadership has gone even further. Their attacks on the Isaac chairmanship and Pringle’s leadership have been relentless and unforgiving.
They say the party is broken.
They say it is drifting.
They say it is being destroyed from within.
But here is the inconvenient truth they refuse to confront:
Anthony Smith Jr. said all of this first.
And when he did, they abandoned him.
They did not defend him.
They did not stand with him.
They did not even argue in good faith.
Instead, they allowed the party machinery to demonize him, while pretending the problems he identified did not exist.
Now those same problems are being shouted from radio studios and factional meetings as if they are sudden discoveries.
This is not political evolution.
This is political cowardice.
You cannot crucify a man for speaking the truth, then turn around and build a movement on that same truth without acknowledging your own role in his isolation.
You cannot pretend that timing absolves hypocrisy.
If the UPP’s current internal rebellion is justified and by their own words it is — then Anthony Smith Jr. was right. And if he was right, then the party leadership and its silent enablers were Very wrong.
It means admitting that personal loyalties were placed above the health of the party. And it means offering a public apology to Anthony Smith Jr. is the right thing to do.
Not because he left.
But because he told the truth before they were brave enough, or desperate enough, to repeat it.
History is unforgiving to hypocrisy.
And right now, the UPP is arguing with itself using Anthony Smith Jr.’s words, while pretending his name was never attached to them. Another big laugh…?
That is not leadership.
That is not unity.
That is shameful politics.
One need to ask however, who are the money-changers behind Harold Lovell return to politics.
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Agreed!! 100%
There will always be differences among members of a political party, it exists in both the UPP and the ABLP. The difference is members of ABLP are afraid of Gaston Brown because they are all matchstick men, some say jellyfish (no backbone at all).
Anthony (modern day Judas) Smith quite possibly had his problems but he stuck with UPP because that’s the only way he could have won his seat then stabbed the constituents and Party in the back. I would still respect him if he left the Party before the election and ran as an Independent