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Quotes
"In the words of one participant, that meeting urged that a 'new language of discourse' be adopted in its deliberations with government".
Chamber of Commerce (Tuesday Voice, 25th September).
"All day, every day, for the past week, the young men in the alley under Block FS1 have sat, quietly sulking as nearly a dozen security officers, a few seasoned policemen and a regular patrol of police vehicles had them under tight surveillance. ... 'It is as if we are the criminals', the ghetto youth agree, 'Fellas come in our area, shoot us, and instead of going behind them, the police come and watch us as if we are the criminals'. The main effect of the security programme, as far as the ghetto youth are concerned is that it has killed their black market marijuana business".
The Mirror (28th September).
"Hon. Minister, I live alone. I have no washing machine, I have an electric iron, but both my washings and ironings are given out. I have a non-Cable TV ... My TV screen faces my bedroom door so that by its light I can secure my pyjamas and don it on, so that I have absolutely no special use for LUCELEC as far as lighting is concerned, except when friends drop by and this is extraordinarily uncommon".
Letterwriter complaining about high electricity rates (Tuesday Voice, 25th September).
"Promise me that the country will start a National Service - two years of pseudo-military nation building service for everyone. We attack unemployment and everyone pays back their debt to society, at the same time. It's like raising an army, except, the emphasis is on pro-active creativity and construction, instead of defensive destruction. And it's probably cheaper than prison."
Jason Sifflet (The Mirror, 28th September).
"If there is a disappointment in Government (over my performance), well, I have no problem with that... Government knows what to do".
Lionel Ellis, general manager of Radio St Lucia (RSL) on criticisms levelled against him and chairman Ulric Augustin (The Mirror, 28th September).
"Today's exercise is not only to look at crime in terms of its mundane entheology, but also to look [and] examine the historical and present viability of institutional and sub-institutional processes and structures designed and created to effectuate the ascendancy of the morally sublime and civilised over the generically perverse and societally criminal".
Minister of Legal Affairs Velon John at 'historical' joint session of parliament called to provide solutions to crime (The Mirror, 28th September).
"Activities this year will be held in five communities: Monchy, Castries, Desruisseaux and Choiseul".
Press release on Jounen Kweyol (The Mirror, 28th September).
"I am forced to ask what makes banks so bloody unconscionable that they can select who lower interest rates should or should not benefit".
Letter to editor about the fact that reduced mortgage interest rates apply only to new loans, not existing ones (The Mirror, 28th September).
"Football - which way forward?"
The Mirror (28th September).
"Many of the car problems that occur on long trips can be easily avoided by some simple pre-trip inspections. Here are some tips and checkpoints for the family car begin your big trip ... And last but certainly not least: the night before the trip make sure you get a good night's sleep".
'Get your car ready for a family vacation' (Wednesday Star, 26th September). St Lucia is an island, measuring 25 by 40 kilometres.
"The public will also be able to sample a number of products, including juices, fish and some tasty dishes. Simply put, local produce will be promoted and prepared in a manner never done before".
Thursday Voice on ministry of Agriculture's promotion of local products (27th September).
"I am tired of showing my pay slips to individuals. And if anybody understands the politics of this country they will understand that the salary does not belong to me, it belongs to the people whom I serve. They are the ones who benefit from it. Not a day goes by in this country that I don't have to assist somebody in paying a medical bill or attending to some other issue. What the hell is he talking about?"
Prime minister Dr Kenny Anthony on suggestions by UWP senator Peter Josie that ministers of government take a cut in salary as part of the belt-tightening measures announced this week (The Star, 29th September).
"There is a critical level at which production cannot survive for very long. I think we are probably at that level now".
WIBDECO chief Bernard Cornibert on falling banana production levels (The Star, 29th September).
"The single comes from a man with a strong background in music, as Obadyahu has served as assistant to the director of the Secondary Schools Orchestra for more than three years and [was] a member from its conception".
The Star on release of new CD (29th September).
"Garlic should never be refrigerated. In Thailand the parents of the groom pay for the wedding. The tumbler pigeon can fly backwards and do somersaults in flight. Epistemophiliac is the word used to describe a person who is abnormally preoccupied with knowledge".
The Voice, 'Little known facts' (29th September).
"He was so obsessed with Scrubb's music, that he would usually walk around the area with two steel band sticks in his back pocket, [although] he could not play the steel pan. When asked why he carried the sticks, he replied 'Boy I am playing Scrubb'."
The Voice (28th September). |
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Multi-million dollar marina project for Soufriere
News of a multi-million dollar investment plan for the construction of a 120-room hotel, 80 apartments, a condominium and yachting marina development at Malgretoute in Soufriere coincided this week with reports that the Palm Tree Hotel in Rodney Bay had been forced to close its doors due to low occupancy rates and the inability to meet operating costs. Prime minister Dr Kenny Anthony this week called the investment in Soufriere "a powerful vote of confidence in the future of St Lucia and its tourism product". He also reiterated a number of government policies which are expected to impact positively on the new tourism project in Soufriere. In recent times the government has claimed that the (temporary) closure of three other hotels on the island cannot be blamed on government policies.
The US$35 million Soufriere South Bay Development project was signed last week and will fundamentally change the face of the area between Coin de Lance and Malgretoute, to the south of Soufriere. According to press secretary Earl Bousquet in a release in The Voice, the project includes a marine charter facility of 15 yachts, a 4-star 120 room hotel at Malgretoute, a marina and quay in the Coin de Lance area as well as a condominium complex. "According to the developers, the first stage of the project – which will cost some US$20 million – will comprise construction of a marina with moorings for 70-100 yachts, 80 apartments and a condominium and commercial space for shops, restaurants and offices. The second phase will feature a US$15 million 223,000 square foot residential project. Phase One is expected to provide between 500 and 1,000 jobs for residents of Soufriere and surrounding areas and 250 permanent jobs upon completion. It is also anticipated that the hotel will expand to 200 and 300 roome in three and five years, respectively".
Financing the Soufriere South Bay Development project is a local company, Donald Monplaisir & Co. Ltd., with an investment consortium of four international groups, which reportedly will construct and operate the facilities. The groups are Saint Malo Nautic (a French charter yacht company), the Loffroy Group (the French developers, owners and operators of hotels), Century 21 ( US-based international real estate marketing company) and His Royal Highness Prince Hosam of Saudi Arabia.
Saint Malo Nautic is expected to establish itself at Rodney Bay Marina before the end of this year, awaiting completion of the marina facility in Soufriere.
To make way for construction of the hotel, the 'Old People's Home' in Malgretoute will be moved to a new location, said Dr Anthony, "to be constructed in the south of the island". No time scale has been announced for the new development in Soufriere.
Meanwhile, tourism operators and officials are still anxiously monitoring the fallout of the terrorist attacks on the United States on the local market. The closure of the Palm Tree Hotel is associated with events in the US, reports the Tuesday Voice. With prospects already dim, management and staff sent in their resignations last week. The mortgaging institution has started repossession of the Rodney Bay property.
Wyndham Morgan Bay Resort came under new ownership this week, when it was taken over by New Palm, a French management and investment company. No interruption in the operation of the hotel is expected, and no staff will be laid off. The Thursday Voice reports this.
The Star hails Wyndham Morgan Bay and LeSport, as examples of hotels that have successfully managed to keep their occupancy levels above fifty percent, despite the turbulent times. Both hotels mainly target the British market. Other properties have not been as fortunate. Windjammer Landing is reportedly down to 23 percent occupancy, and Rainbow Hotel is also struggling around the 20 percent mark, according to The Star. Gordon 'Butch' Stewart, owner of the two Sandals resorts in St Lucia, quashed rumours that one of the hotels is set to close, or that staff will be sent home. Although some workers have been put on a four-day week, Stewart announced this week that he has "absolutely no intention" of closing down or dismissing workers. He did call on the government, however, to provide concessions on room tax, utilities and other areas that it can influence, to reduce operating costs at this difficult time for the tourism industry. A similar call went out from the president of the St Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association, Berthia Parle, two weeks ago. Speaking about the industry's plight in this week's Star, Parle said: "There are hotels that are down to 14 percent and 10 percent occupancy . The figures are so scary that I don't know how people will bee able to keep the hotels open". The government has allotted an extra $3.7 million for marketing St Lucia in the United States but even prime minister Dr Anthony reportedly expects tourism business to get worse. Stay-over arrivals are projected to decline "even more than the initially projected figure of 18 percent this year", writes The Star. "A contraction of that magnitude is estimated to result in a reduction of approximately 96 million dollars in visitor expenditure", said Dr Anthony.
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Tighter security at CDC frustrates drug-dealing youths
Round-the-clock security patrols at the CDC apartments in Castries have returned a measure of peace and quiet to the residential area that for months has been plagued by drug-related violence but it is as yet too early to say whether the return to normalcy will last. The Wednesday Star quotes a resident as saying that over the past week, things have been "really quiet. On Saturday night and Friday night it was like a ghost town. … By 6pm they had already left. That's unusual because you know Saturday is their selling day. Sunday they weren't there at all".
But The Mirror foresees that the increased security measures are merely adding "a new layer to the problem", particularly since no one has yet been arrested for the shootings of July and August. "There is a tension building up between the CDC security/police officers and the ghetto youth who they are supposed to be protecting from other gangs", writes The Mirror. "The young men in the alley are crying out that police are watching them as culprits, instead of going after the persons who were reportedly turning the area into a war zone. It is no secret that the alley under Block FS1 is one of the busiest marijuana distribution points in the city of Castries. Most of the young men who frequent the area have no problem admitting that they smoke and/or trade in marijuana for a living. … All day, every day for the past week, the young men in the alley under Block FS1 have sat, quietly sulking as nearly a dozen security officers, a few seasoned policemen and a regular patrol of police vehicles had them under tight surveillance. … 'It is as if we are the criminals', the ghetto youth agree. 'Fellas come in our area, shoot us, and instead of going behind them, the police come and watch us as if we are the criminals'. The main effect of the security programme, as far as the ghetto youth are concerned is that it has killed their black market marijuana business."
While a police spokesman said that if the tighter control measures help to kill two birds with one stone, then that is all the better – but residents are reportedly divided on the issue. The Mirror reports that while "Some say they are happy that someone has finally put an end to the weed-smoking and drug-dealing that happens in the alley … others say that police are targeting the wrong people and the boys on the block are now being punished even though they are victims, not perpetrators of the recent violence".
It is also not yet clear whether increased patrols at the CDC do not merely serve to move the problems associated with the drug trade and gang violence to other areas of Castries.
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New passport procedure for Dutch overseas
Dutch nationals living in St Lucia and elsewhere outside of their home country are urged to take note that applications for renewal of their passports will take as long as four weeks to be processed. New security measures in force as of 1st of October mean that all personal data and passports will be processed at a central location in the Netherlands. For more information and for contact details of the Dutch Consulate in Castries and the Dutch Embassy in Port of Spain (Trinidad & Tobago), visit www.passportinformation.org
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Dramatic increases in Soufriere fish stocks
Close monitoring of fish stocks in the Soufriere area over the past six years has resulted in "dramatic increases". So much so, that "for every 2lb of fish caught by pot fishers in 1995, they are now catching 3-4 lb". The Tuesday Voice reports this. The Soufriere Marine Management Area, which was created in 1995, has been monitoring fish stocks since 1995, in cooperation with scientists from the Univerity of York and the department of Fisheries. The significant increase in fish means that the marine reserves – that is, the areas where no fishing or damaging activities are allowed – function according to plan. By protecting the coral reefs and breeding grounds, the marine reserves ensure that pot fishing has a future in Soufriere.
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Ministers sacrifice travel in face of economic decline
"Government will immediately reduce travelling on official business by public officials and government ministers. Travelling will be restricted to a minimum. Government will institute an immediate freeze on new employment in the Public Service and on all proposals for new travelling posts". This announcement came from prime minister Dr Kenny Anthony during a meeting of the House of Assembly, on Tuesday. Other belt-tightening measures in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States include temporary suspension of the policy regarding the granting of increments, encouraging banks to reduce interest rates, and continuation of government's policy to pump money into infrastructural projects. The Thursday Voice reports this. An extra EC$6 million will be used to provide short-term employment to unskilled workers in the next few months.
Addressing the nation, Dr Anthony said: "Fellow St Lucians, our watch-words over the next twelve months must then be expenditure containment and strategic investment. Let us concentrate not so much on the things that we want, but the things that we need. This applies as much to government as to the difficult and necessary corporate and individual decisions that must be made at this time, to harness all our resources in one collective effort of economic survival. We must be resolute and resolved as we enter this period, for further challenges may yet arise to test our determination".
The Mirror editor is not very impressed with the package of measures, saying they should have been introduced some two years ago, when the first signs of hard times became visible on the horizon"only some would not admit it". The editor of The Voice takes a similar line. He states that while the ministers will now perhaps give up "the luxury of travelling and its concomitant perks and allowances", grade one government workers such as clerks and typists will be asked to give up "some basic essentials". The editor goes on to criticise the government's steadfast line over the past year or more, that the economy is 'in transition'. Quoting from a report of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank for the first quarter of 2001 (January to March), which was released recently, the editor argues that the word 'transition' does not feature in the report's harsh conclusions. "[B]ased on the performance of the major sectors", states the ECCB report, "the level of economic activity in St Lucia was estimated to have declined. Activity in the construction sector contracted, value added in the tourism sector declined, stay-over arrivals, fell, agricultural production contracted, the fiscal position of the central government weakened and the overall deficit increased, largely associated with increase in current expenditure".
Along with The Mirror, the editor of The Voice dispels the notion that St Lucia's economic woes started on September 11th, with the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
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New policy major victory for yachties
The yachting sector in St Lucia scored a major victory this week when Dr Kenny Anthony announced a new policy which ensures easier visa arrangements for yachties and reduced consumption tax on yachts. For several years, manager of the Rodney Bay Marina Cuthbert Didier has lobbied for the improvements, stressing at every opportunity the socio-economic importance of yachting to St Lucia's tourism sector. "The longer yachtsmen are allowed to stay, the more time they spend exploring the island and of course the more money they spend. For example all the businesses located in the Rodney Bay area are making money from the industry because yachtsmen eat and drink like other tourists. And more yachts in the marina will mean more skilled labour that is industry-related. Boats will require mechanics, fibre glass companies will get work. They will need painters and so on. Right now the yachting sector contributes EC$50 million direct to the GDP". The Star reports that this figure could increase by at least 40 percent, thanks to the new policies. "A visiting yachtsman spends an average of EC$121per day – far greater than cruise ship visitors … I would like to see the day when the yachting sector can boost land-based tourism as an equal partner and I think the government has put in place things to make sure that happens".
Under the new policy, yachties will be permitted to stay on the island for a period of six months instead of six weeks, before having to apply for an extension of their visa. Also, the Tourism Incentives Act of 1996 will be amended to include yachting, to that yachts registered in St Lucia are considered an approved tourism product and are liable to zero percent consumption tax. Yachts cleared for departure will, for a period of 72 hours, be given the same rights as yachts passing through. Finally all charges (except for those in the Soufriere Marine Management Area) will be replaced by a one-off three-tier flat rate licence system based on size of the yacht and duration of stay. In the year 2000, some 9,000 yachts visited St Lucia, and 6,000 of those came to the Rodney Bay Marina. The Star reports this.
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One dead, five wounded in car crash in Jacmel
Sebastian JnBaptiste died and five other people, including three children, were injured when the car in which they were travelling in Jacmel ran off the road and crashed into a utility pole. JnBaptiste reportedly died on the spot. Four of those injured remain in hospital. The accident occurred on Wednesday morning. Police are investigating the circumstances. The Thursday Voice reports this.
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Diabetics benefit from insulin at lower cost
Diabetics in St Lucia will soon be able to buy insulin and syringes at reduced rates from private sector pharmacies. Thus far, only government outlets have been able to sell insulin at a reduced rate because the medication was procured in bulk, through the Eastern Caribbean Drug Service. Private pharmacies, however, purchased only small quantities and were faced with high shipping costs. By introducing Renwick and Company as a local distributor, private drugstores can now profit from the same reduced rates. Cabinet has determined ceilings on the price mark-ups which may be passed on to customers, to ensure that all insulin-dependent diabetics have access to the cheaper drug. The project is a pilot scheme, reports The Star. If it works satisfactorily, similar arrangements may be made for medications for other chronic illnesses, such as hypertension, a spokespers for the ministry of Health said.
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