... in my dad's footsteps
Publication: Weekend Nation
Date: Fri, May 30, 1997
Page: 22
Byline: Terry Ally
WHEN she returned to St. Lucia last year at age 20, fresh out of university and armed with a first degree in Business Administration, politics was the furthest thing from her mind.
The affable and very pleasant Menissa Rambally returned home from the Caribbean Union College in Trinidad, the extension campus of Andrews University in Michigan, to set up her own business, just as her parents did when they were young.
Little did she know that sad events were about to propel her into politics.
Instead of becoming an entrepreneur, Menissa became the youngest member of the St. Lucia Cabinet as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism after her party, the St. Lucia Labour Party swept last Friday's poll.
Thirteen days before her 21st birthday, in January this year, her father, Hezekiah, who was the endorsed St. Lucia Labour Party candidate for the poor rural constituency of Castries South-East, died.
"We were brought up in an environment where my father was a community-based man and, after his death, many people in the constituency were looking for somebody from the family to run. They wanted something of my father to hold onto, in a certain way, because of what he represented," she said.
Her father meant a lot to the people, especially the poor, because when they didn't know where their next meal would come from, Hezekiah willingly gave them bread from his bakery.
Menissa said her father really thought he could turn around the fortunes of the poor in the constituency, many of whom were not only unemployed but also lacked the very basic necessities of life.
Having been raised in this kind of humanitarian family environment, Menissa felt a responsibility and thought too that as a young person she could be an example for other young people.
"I took the job, especially knowing that there were many young people in the constituency and knowing too that for so many years our constituency was neglected, the literacy rate was low and I really felt that I could make a difference."
Her immediate family was happy. They had rallied behind her father's campaign and they all felt that one from among them should take up the mantle.
However, the electorate appeared a bit reluctant.
They could not come to grips with the fact that a woman - such a young woman - could possibly get into, essentially, what was a man's domain in St. Lucia.
It was not easy for her, not only having to win them over but also on the heels of her father's death and having to go up against her uncle Josiah Rambally, a doctor and respected person in society.
"People were shocked with the idea of somebody so young representing them. It took a little while for them to get used to the idea that it was possible," said the eloquent Menissa.
On the political platform, they found a young woman who had just "come of age", who was concerned about the level of unemployment and lack of education primarily among the youth.
Young people were trying to stay longer in school because afterwards there was nothing to do, nothing to bring into reality the mouthings that "young people are the future".
She won their hearts.
The toughest political battle, though, was in helping to reverse the political apathy all across the land where people stayed away from politics having lost faith in politicians.
"That was one of the most challenging things in the campaign, to actually get people to believe in somebody else, to help them understand that somebody could truly come and represent them," she recalled.
Her dream is to remove the squalor and poverty in her constituency, to see the literacy rate rise, to see young people get access to quality education and to
see an improvement in family life.
"I want to see families developed. If we could have good families, if we could help our families to build, we could have a better nation, our constituency would be a comfortable place, our schools would be more productive.
"I believe in starting from the basic, from the home, if we could get the home environment to be more comfortable, more pleasing, more acceptable, then we could build from there." Menissa enjoys meeting and interacting with people and that made her day during the campaign. The house-to-house canvassing, done for the first time in St. Lucia, were the most memorable moments. She got to meet people, see their different personalities and characters.
Her most disappointing or embarrassing moment? She laughed very pleasantly and tossed it around in her mind.
"I am thinking," she said.
Actually, the most disappointing moments were not being able to meet some members of the constituency face-to-face.
In her Cabinet position she looks forward to working with and learning from Minister of Tourism Philip Pierre, the second deputy leader of the party.
What about a private life? Getting married, having kids and settling down to a private family life?
"I am not closing the door to anything but right now I have my priorities, and my priorities are my career and to serve the people of my constituency.
"I would like to have a family one day but I believe that can wait . . . God willing, that will come in time."