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Soil turned for superb National Cricket Ground
"Lovely, lovely cricket won't come cheap", writes The Star, on the occasion of the sod-turning ceremony, last Tuesday afternoon, for the newest, most modern, state-of-the-art cricket ground in the Caribbean: the National Cricket Ground at Beausejour near Gros Islet. At a price of EC$30 million, the new cricket ground will seat a total of 15,000 people and feature an electronic scoreboard, lighting, facilities for parking, a cycling circuit and a four-level pavilion.
President of the St. Lucia National Cricket Association, Trevor Phillip, says he is very excited about the new venue and expects cricket to really take off, not only in St. Lucia, but in the Windward Islands and the Americas as a whole. Phillip promised minister of Sports, Mario Michel, that his association would do all it can to 'catapult' a St. Lucian player onto the West Indies team within the next ten years.
St. Lucian woman already represent their island on the West Indies team and, in fact, have a captain in Verena Felicien. Felicien, together with minister Michel, carried out the sod-turning using a bulldozer. President of the Windward Islands Cricket Board, Lennox John, who was also present at the happy occasion, told the audience that the new National Cricket Ground in St. Lucia comes at a very opportune time. "The West Indies Cricket Board intends to host the 2007 Cricket World Cup, in which a facility like the one now under construction at Beausejour, will be in great demand. ... International cricket is fast becoming a major attraction and event in the West Indies and plays a major part in sports tourism".
The Star and Mirror both report in detail on the commencement of construction of the new National Cricket Ground. The Star, in addition, carries a long article on the new National Stadium currently being built in Vieux Fort, and has an interview with permanent secretary Ernest Hilaire on the state of (prospective) sports development in St. Lucia.
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St. Lucia: premieres system in war against smuggling
Smuggling contraband and selling stolen boats are set to become even more difficult in the Caribbean with the introduction of a new, internet-based small craft tracking system in St. Lucia and Trinidad. The new system can monitor the movement of small vessels and light aircraft throughout the entire Caribbean region. It falls under the responsibility of the Caribbean Customs and Law Enforcement Council and is supported by the United Nations International Drug Control Programme.
It is the first system of its kind in the world and, if successful, may become the model for similar systems elsewhere. Presently, all craft are randomly checked by customs officials. The new system will make that a thing of the past since it can profile and specifically target suspicious craft. Furthermore, the system will make it possible to track stolen boats even after they have slipped out of national waters. The Star and Thursday Voice report this.
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Little support for Rastafarian pro-marijuana rally
Rastafarians in St. Lucia were expected to take to the streets this Saturday to call for the legalization of marijuana, cannabis and hemp. The National Council for the Advancement of Rastafari (NCAR) planned to rally at George V Park in Castries and, from there, march through the streets of the capital in an attempt to call for the decriminalization of marijuana as a drug. They also wish to promote the use of marijuana in industrial pursuits, and to defend the weed's use for social and spiritual purposes. But criticism has come both from within and outside of the organisation.
Minister of Health Sarah Flood-Beaubrun, on radio and TV this week, drew attention to the dangers of marijuana use, especially with respect to the mental health of young people. "Marijuana use contributed to the presence of many of the young residents at Golden Hope [Mental Hospital]", she is quoted as saying in The Mirror.
David Vitalis, in his weekly commentary, concurs that although neither the police nor school officials are denying that marijuana usage has increased considerably among the youth, both inside and outside the school grounds, there is still widespread opposition to the idea of decriminalizing marijuana. "Those who are less worried about its reported disadvantages to good health, have fears about what they perceive to be an unholy alliance between marijuana, Rastafarians, dreadlocks and deviant behaviour".
The perception is, according to Vitalis in this week's Mirror, that "marijuana is some sort of fuel for indiscipline". Vitalis laments that the Rastafarian movement has not been able "to overcome this perception through organisation and mobilisation. They have not been able to sustain a collective voice strong enough to influence political action in favour of granting concessions to the movement. ... [W]hile the movement was able to attract (and is still attracting) significant numbers of young people, it has not shaped and groomed leaders to lift Rastafarianism here from race, religious and political rhetoric (including repatriation to Africa) to the self-reliance, production and achievement it advocated. On the contrary, differing opinions and interpretations on how the true Rastaman should live have fragmented the movement to the point where only the issues of decriminalization of marijuana and police brutality evoke the widest consensus".
Vitalis' view is supported by an article in The Crusader, where Ras Peter 'Ipa' Isaac (incidentally, a co-founder of the NCAR) is quoted as saying that in his view, the NCAR "should not take to the streets for the legalisation of marijuana". According to Ras Ipa, the NCAR would have acted more wisely by approaching the issue of decriminalization of marijuana as a religious issue. The NCAR should explain the structure of its religion, what it believes in, and what it holds to be sacred - marijuana, amongst other things - instead of attempting to pressurize government into legalizing the use of marijuana across the board. If Rastas are to take to the streets, says Ras Ipa, there are plenty of other issues to clamour for first, such as the victimization of Rastafarians in the workplace and in prison, unemployment, poverty, education and family issues, as well as the need to push for Rastafarianism to be recognized as a religion. "We have to be very careful. We have to work in our interest, what is for us. We cannot take the burden of trying to legalize marijuana for everybody in society".
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SLBC antics cost Windward farmers EC$400,000
The management of the St. Lucia Banana Corporation (SLBC) comes under heavy fire this week in The Mirror, following the news that the company's delaying of the payment of bonuses to banana farmers in the Windward Islands has cost farmers some $400,000 due to the continuously falling exchange rate of the British pound. Geest had meant to pay a one million pound sterling bonus in February of this year, but the SLBC protested against the proposed system of payment. Geest, a joint venture between WIBDECO and Fyffes, intended to pay the bonus directly to banana farmers. The SLBC instead insisted that it should receive the money in a lump-sum on behalf of its farmers.
The fracas that followed lasted from February until 2nd June, when the one million pound bonus was finally paid. However, in February, the bonus would have totalled EC$4,400,000. Two weeks ago, it translated into no more than EC$4,000,000 - a loss of four hundred thousand dollars. According to The Mirror, banana associations in Dominica and St. Vincent "are demanding that whoever was responsible for the delay should be made to pay their farmers the difference".
Meanwhile, farmers who trade with the SLBC have reportedly still not received their share of the bonus. The SLBC has allegedly been given an advance from Geest but still has to submit information about its farmers - one of the bones of contention during the past four months - before it can receive the rest of the money.
In its editorial, The Mirror newspaper lays the blame squarely at the feet of the SLBC management. "It is unclear what SLBC wanted to use the bonus for. But the very reason why Geest decided to pay a bonus to farmers and not a dividend to shareholders, or companies and associations, is because SLBC has misspent this kind of money before. ... What is curious though, even suspicious, is that all during the three to four months delay of payment of bonuses, SLBC knew that the pound was getting weaker and that the million pound bonus was losing value in EC dollars. Did SLBC mean to cause this loss, or did the company simply not care? Will the SLBC continue to add more of these guffaws to their long list of costly mistakes in the industry?"
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Thief dead, guard wounded at restaurant robbery
One man was shot dead and another wounded when two Castries men tried to rob the Renaissance Restaurant on the Darling Road, last Thursday night. The two robbers twice shot a security guard, at close range, and then proceeded to rob the restaurant. A policeman who lives above the restaurant and who heard the gunshots, rushed downstairs and intervened. One robber escaped, the other was shot in the heart after he allegedly refused to obey the policeman's command to 'freeze'. According to The Star, the robber fired at the policeman. He subsequently returned fire, killing the thief on the spot. The security guard is expected to make a full recovery. The Voice and Star both report this.
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Carnival chairman resigns - but launching successful
Carnival 2000 was launched successfully last week with several shows and beauty contests being held around the island - but the mood of festivity was overshadowed somewhat by the news that National Carnival Development Committee (NCDC) chairman Lionel Ellis has handed in his resignation. Minister of Culture, Damian Greaves, confirmed this at the official press launch for Carnival 2000, last Saturday. No reasons are being given for Ellis' quitting.
An NCDC spokesman says that it is expected that Ellis will stay on until after this year's carnival. Minister Greaves said that Saturday's press conference may well be Ellis' last official function. Meanwhile, rumour has it that former NCDC chairman, Linwall James, may be brought back into the organisation. The Voice and Crusader write this.
Meanwhile, Ellis applauded the government's support for Carnival 2000, saying it has "increased tremendously the overall support to the NCDC". Government's support entails, amongst other things, an EC$250,000 subvention, a waiver of duty on imported materials for all the carnival groups, and the granting of work permits to all invited performers and technical personnel for NCDC (year round).
Minister Greaves further announced government's plan to launch a competition in order to come up with a new, uniquely St. Lucian name for next year's carnival.
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Hyatt struggling through its first off-season
The brand new Hyatt Regency Hotel on the causeway to Pigeon Island is struggling with a sharp decline in occupancy rates, just two months after its much-publicised opening. General manager Dale McDaniel blames the drop in business on the fact that no conferences are planned for the summer months, combined with the traditional decline in tourist arrivals at this time of the year. "Our date for opening certainly didn't do us any favours either". Some workers have seen their work week brought back to two days but all staff are kept on through the lean period, McDaniel insists, albeit at somewhat reduced hours. "We are viewing this as a short-term problem and certainly if you walk around the hotel it does not appear that morale has been adversely affected".
Remedial measures have meanwhile been put in place, in an attempt to turn around the "frustrating" situation of running the Hyatt at less than half its intended occupancy. Fifty percent discounts on room rates have been offered for US and UK guests, special CARICOM rates are being offered to Caribbean residents, and there is a forty percent discount on food and drinks for St. Lucian visitors to the bar and restaurant. The Star reports this.
In a separate article in the Wednesday issue of The Star, McDaniel reveals plans to tap into the Puerto Rican market, which has four flights daily to and from St. Lucia using American Eagle. The hotel's manager also makes reference again to his wish to introduce casino gambling at the Hyatt, as soon as the legislation is in place. "Of course, the casino is very important to business and without it, certain important markets will remain closed to us - markets that we may have been able to attract to off-set this usually slow period", McDaniel is quoted as saying in The Star. But first, he admits, "We have to get through the difficult summer months".
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Met Office calls for more equipment, training
The Metereological Office requires new equipment and more training if it is to provide essential services to the island during the hurricane season. So says Chief Met. Officer Bruno Lamontagne. "We need to get equipment which will enable us to give more accurate and specific information to the public", Lamontagne says in The Star. However, some improvements appear to be on the way, with the establishment of a weather web site, a voice mail system, and an Alert Network System of rainfall-reading stations around the island all in the pipeline. In addition, the Met Office is in the process of setting up a Ham Radio network around the island, whose ten or fifteen officers can measure wind speeds and directions, temperature levels and rainfall.
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Pigeon Island definitely St. Lucia soil again
Ownership of Pigeon Island will be transferred back to the government and people of St. Lucia on the 1st of August this year. This was announced by prime minister Dr. Kenny Anthony in a press release published in The Voice and Star newspapers. According to the PM, all parties involved in the matter have consented to the transfer of ownership.
The issue of who owns Pigeon Island caused great political turmoil some months ago, with the current administration blaming the previous United Workers Party government of having sold this important vestige of St. Lucia's history to foreigners. Former UWP prime minister Sir John Compton denied that such was the case. A controversy followed in which both parties revealed official documentation to try to prove their point. The Voice and Star both report on the imminent transferral of ownership.
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Vegetable farmer disappears from Praslin farm
A 27-year-old Mon Repos man has been missing since last week after he left his residence in Praslin to look for food. Marinus Victor, who was last seen wearing black pants and a black shirt, was living at a plantation in Praslin where he and two other men cultivate vegetables. Victor's mother and his co-workers have been searching for him ever since his disappearance. Anyone who has seen Victor is asked to contact the police or call 455-3513. This is reported in the Mirror.
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UN: laws needed to avoid repetition Smart Duah case
With no word still on the refugee status of Nigerian student Smart Duah, who was illegally detained for three and a half years in a St. Lucian prison, a senior legal officer of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) this week visited St. Lucia to conduct a workshop on the importance and operation of the refugee issue. Alejandro Cedeno expressed concern over the reluctance of St. Lucia and other Caribbean countries to formulate proper laws and regulations to deal with refugees, and attempted to take away officials' fears that the island will be overrun by foreigners seeking refugee status once such laws are in place. According to The Mirror, Celeno emphasised that refugees must not be treated like illegal immigrants and said that "there is no need to put these persons in jail for many years without seeking to determine whether he or she is not a refugee". Besides, the UNHCR official added, should a refugee not be allowed to stay in the country where he or she has sought refuge, then there are several other resettlement countries which might still accept the person.
St. Lucia gained much negative exposure over its handling of the Smart Duah case. Minister of Foreign Affairs George Odlum, in his contribution to the budget debate, at the time lamented that his government's insensitive approach to the case at the time was especially embarrassing to him on the international scene. In the meantime, the progress of Smart Duah's application for political refugee status remains shrouded in administrative silence.
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Celebrating OECS plans to watch financial services
The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is observing its 19th anniversary this week with the launching of a new regional newspaper, to be named the OECS Advocate. The paper will come out once a month and be distributed throughout its member states of Anguilla, Antigua/Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts/Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The OECS Advocate will include analyses of the region's major news events, features on the people and places of the OECS, sports, and updates on the OECS' own programmes and projects. The Thursday Voice and Star report this.
The Mirror, in addition, carries an interview with the Director of Functional Co-operation of the OECS, George Goodwin. On the OECS' chart for the future is, amongst other things, close observance of the development of (international) financial services in the various member states, says Goodwin. "These are matters we need to pay much greater attention to both in terms of responding to what is happening at the global level and how we can shape our economy to fit into these new developments".
Only last week, the quality of the emerging international financial services sector in St. Lucia and in a number of other Caribbean island states was criticised in a report by the Washington-based Financial Stability Forum [see last week's news].
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The Voice: 'public service becoming politicised'
"Who, in the new political era, is responsible for what, and how does the lack of clarity affect the minds and functioning of normal civil servants?" This is the central question in an article written by 'The Observer' in this weekend's Voice. The article explores the allegedly increasingly politicised nature of positions at the top of the public service in St. Lucia. The Observer warns that this development might in the long run pose a grave danger to the stability of the public service.
"[T]here has been increasing concern these last few years over what is referred to as the 'politicisation' of the [Public] Services, with its implication that such 'political' civil servants, employed on contract to head Departments, have their eyes directed more at their political masters' objectives and whims, than at implementation of policies according to accepted rules and guidelines".
The Observer's article comes in the wake of a rumour that surfaced in The Voice two weeks ago, to the effect that a reshuffle at the top of the public service was expected soon [see news archives]. One of the rumoured changes was that current cabinet secretary Anthony Severin would be replaced by Didacus Jules, now permanent secretary in the ministry of Education. These rumours were subsequently denied.
"When the news of possible changes among the ranks of Permanent Secretaries was floated recently - including the replacement of the present Cabinet Secretary by one of the new 'politically oriented' Permanent Secretaries - it was quickly denied", writes The Observer. "But is it really the business of a Minister, or the affected Permanent Secretary, to acknowledge or deny news about changes in the Public Service? Is a new system in operation? Is the Public Service Commission not the appropriate body?"
The Observer urges the Public Service Commission to assert itself more strongly in the face of the alleged trend of politicisation of the top ranks in the public service.
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Man stabs ex-girlfriend, commits suicide in fire
A man who was so distraught when his ex-girlfriend refused to resume the relationship with him, stabbed the woman and subsequently set fire to her house, locking himself inside and allowing the fire to kill him. The tragedy occurred last week Saturday in Sarrot. The man, who lived in Union, forced his way into the house where the woman and her five children (none of whom are his) were fast asleep. An argument ensued and the man stabbed his ex-girlfriend with a pocket knife in her arm, back and abdomen. The woman's eight-year-old daughter subsequently attacked the man with a knife, giving her mother the opportunity to ultimately, fend off the man. The mother of five then ran next door to her sister's house, taking her children with her. Meanwhile, the man re-entered the wooden house, locked himself inside, and set the structure ablaze. While he thus committed suicide, his ex-girlfriend was rushed to Victoria Hospital, where emergency surgery was performed on the stab wounds to her stomach. The mother and her children, who lost all their possessions in the fire, are currently in the care of relatives. The Crusader reports this.
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Crusader: Compton to lose battle with WASCO
The Crusader newspaper maintains that, contrary to claims made by former prime minister Sir John Compton, the Water and Sewerage Company (WASCO) does, in fact, have the legal power to increase the water rates. "On March 22, 1999, in preparation for the establishment of WASCO, under section 3(2) of the Public Utilities Commission Act 1973, a new bill was piloted through Parliament declaring the Water and Sewerage Company exempt from the provisions of the Public Utilities Commissions Act 1973", writes The Crusader. "As a result WASCO is legally entitled to set price rates for the supply of water".
Compton is engaged in a legal battle with WASCO following a 100 percent increase in water rates as of January this year [see last week's news]. Compton recently informed WASCO that he is refusing to pay his water bills until WASCO has "satisfactorily" replied to Compton's challenge that its price increase is illegal. Compton claims that WASCO continues to be governed by the Public Utilities Commission Act and hence, any changes in water rates must be in accordance with this Act. Compton has warned WASCO that should it attempt to cut off the water supply to his residence or office, he will apply to the High Court for an injunction and claim exemplary damages. The Crusader now writes that "Chances are, if [Compton] sticks to his guns, he may end [up] suffering a drought for a very long time".
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