KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC) — Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves says the presence of Jamaican dance hall artiste, Vybz Kartel in St Vincent and the Grenadines is a personal act of mercy.

Kartel, who was recently released from prison after 13 years on a murder charge, is currently in St Vincent for treatment for Graves’ disease, also known as hyperthyroidism.

Since his arrival at the Argyle International Airport on board a private jet last Friday, several videos have circulated on social media documenting the artiste’s trip.

One of the videos shows Kartel, real name is Adidja Palmer seated at a dining table along with Gonsalves and his wife, Eloise Gonsalves, and other people, apparently at the Official Residence of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Gonsalves, speaking on his weekly radio programme on the state-owned NBC Radio, said he received a telephone call from Kartel’s lawyer a couple of weeks ago regarding the trip.

“He called me and said that he understood that we have experts here in the field of dealing with the issue of Graves disease, hypothyroidism, which is the condition publicly everybody knows that Mr Kartel, Mr Palmer suffers from,” Gonsalves, who like Kartel uses the moniker “world boss” said

Gonsalves said Isat Buchanan asked whether or not it would be appropriate for Kartel to travel to Kingstown “to see these experts in this field”.

“So, I told him that, in fact, we do have a high-quality specialist, endocrinologist, a Cuban with a good supportive team, including specialists in internal medicine and I named the doctor… who is of Indian descent and who is also a teaching professor at one of the universities here,” the prime minister said.

Gonsalves noted the other internal medicine specialists include Dr Reisha Twana Browne-Caesar, wife of Agriculture Minister, Saboto Caesar and said these specialists have good supportive staff and a sufficiency of investigative tools.

“I think the understanding about what we had was probably conveyed by Marlon Samuels, whom I’ve known from the days of West Indies cricket,” Gonsalves said of the Jamaican batsman, adding that Samuels had visited the country to show solidarity after the impact of Hurricane Beryl on July 1.

“And immediately I was prompted to say, ‘Yes, we can facilitate him.’ Naturally, the government is not spending any money for Mr Kartel, Mr Palmer, Vybz Kartel to be staying here.

“I mean, we’re facilitating, because the impulse came from a simple word called mercy. Somebody who is in need is reaching out for help.”

Gonsalves said he also spoke with Kartel by phone, saying “Of course, he came on jovial, as usual, bantering…”

“He’s happy to talk to the political world boss. Everyone knew he had been presented as the dance hall world boss.”

Gonsalves said that Kartel then told him he had a child with Vincy roots.

“He said he has a child with a woman whose mother is from St Vincent and the Grenadines,” Gonsalves said, adding that he knows the woman, who is from the Cabral family, and her extended family.

“But my impulse was confirmed by his connection to the Cabrals. The Lord works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. But I begin with the word because I was telling instinctively, I told his lawyer, yes, we’ll facilitate because mercy is in my DNA. It’s a noise in the blood, it’s an echo in the bone,” he said.

Gonsalves, responding to suggestions that he was helping “a convicted criminal” said, “I say he was a convicted criminal, but the highest court in the land, they have freed him.”

“The reason why he is out is that he’s deemed not guilty of the crime that he is charged with.

“So, factually, for that offence, he is not guilty,” said Gonsalves, a lawyer, who noted that every accused person is presumed to be innocent.

“In order to bring us guilty, you have to provide evidence before a fair tribunal. And the highest courts judged that the process wasn’t fair. Whatever the details, that’s the conclusion broadly.

“But I pointed out that even if he were in prison, if you could help, if somebody else could help, I could help you, we are enjoined to go there and see him … like we go and see friends, family and others in prison,” the prime minister said.

Gonsalves’ Unity Labour Party is constitutionally required to face the electorate by February 2026 in a bid for a sixth consecutive five-year term in office. With regards to this, he was asked whether he had made arrangements for Kartel to help him “with any elections or anything like that”.

“I said, ‘No. That’s why I asked you not to analyse it…I won five elections on the run, on the trot, without any involvement from Mr Palmer and I shall win the sixth encounter, I believe, on a canter with or without Mr Palmer’s assistance,” Gonsalves said.