Divorce looms for TCI Premier and First Lady LisaRaye

Alas, the premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), Hon. Michael Misick, and Hollywood actress LisaRaye McCoy-Misick will not be living happily ever after. Because, just two years after their fairytale marriage (complete with Grace-Kelly tiara), they seem headed for divorce.

Clearly, for the people of the TCI, this is big news. But I fear prurient interest in what caused this marriage to become irretrievably broken down might overshadow what it portends for the leadership of our country - especially regarding its relevance to the unresolved allegations of rape and corruption against the Premier.

All the same, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the general assumption that our First Lady is leaving her husband for the same principled reason many Americans, especially self-respecting women, thought U.S. First Lady Hillary Clinton should have left her chronically unfaithful husband long ago….

However, I feel obliged to comment on this pending divorce for the same reason I felt obliged to defend First Lady LisaRaye in recent article against charges of bringing the TCI into ill-repute after an old photo of her, scantily clad, appeared on the cover of a men’s magazine. Namely, I feel it’s important to help fellow TCIslanders put this matter into perspective vis-à-vis the breakdown of good governance in our country.

It is no secret that many TCIslanders resented the fact that the Premier married an American woman. And I have no doubt that many will greet the end of their marriage with unbridled glee.

Yet we can no more blame the First Lady for the mismanagement and misappropriations that have given rise to allegations of corruption, which could bring down our government, than we can blame her for the Premier’s (alleged) extramarital affairs that have given rise to allegations of rape, which could land him in jail.

Therefore, we should regard with grave suspicion any insinuation in the TCI press, which the Premier boasts of effectively controlling, that she is in any way responsible for the looting of our national resources that has virtually bankrupted our country.

That said, a very important disclosure is in order:

After I published the above-referenced article defending her, the First Lady contacted me. And, given the way she was portrayed in the international press and maligned through our local rumour mill, I was both shocked and surprised by what she had to say; no doubt, in part, because I had neither met nor even spoken to her before.

I was shocked because she lamented that no member of the Premier’s ruling party defended her (or even offered moral or political support), when her reputation was being besmirched.

I was surprised because she spoke of her role as TCI First Lady with a persuasive sense of duty and public spiritedness that would seem laughable coming from the Premier or his government ministers.

But, clearly, no time is ideal for a divorce. And I’m sure all TCIslanders regret that the irreconcilable differences between our Premier and First Lady are such that divorce now seems inevitable.

More to the point, however, just as French President Nicolas Sarkozy handled his wife’s decision to divorce him while in office with dignity and discretion, let us hope that our Premier will do the same – for his sake and for the sake of our beloved country.

Accordingly, my prayers go out to him and the First Lady as they go through this very difficult personal (and unavoidably) public ordeal.

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Defending the reputation of TCI First Lady LisaRaye

Premier Michael Misick, LisaRaye McCoy