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Pat Joseph re-elected - BSC loses all representatives
Patrick Joseph, who in recent weeks has been accused of arrogance, mismanagement and paying himself and other top managers exorbitant salaries, was exonerated last Monday by shareholders of the St. Lucia Banana Corporation (SLBC) who re-elected him to serve on the Board of Directors of the SLBC. At the same time, Joseph's prime critics, Fred Flood and Hyacinth Augustin, did not receive enough votes to be re-elected - and neither did any of the other four candidates supported by the anti-Joseph, Banana Salvation Committee (BSC) faction gain access to the SLBC Board. This leaves the BSC without a voice on the board of the banana marketing and buying company.
The Mirror describes the outcome of the election as "a source of embarrassment for the BSC" while The Star quotes Patrick Joseph as saying that "the overwhelming support of the shareholders" is not "simply a victory but a mandate to continue the difficult work he [Joseph] had started".
Meanwhile, however, BSC president and Joseph's main opponent, Fred Flood, is crying foul, claiming that the voting process was rigged. "We were defeated because a number of proxies introduced into the election were thrown out by members of the corporation", The Star quotes Flood. The paper goes on to report that Flood and the BSC intend to fight the election result "to the hilt". According to The Mirror, the BSC will challenge the result on legal grounds. The BSC is expected to meet shortly to decide on its strategy.
Elected at last Monday's election for the Board of the SLBC were: Joseph Hippolyte (592 votes); Patrick Joseph (589); Erasmus Alfred (588); Renicks Doxilly (587); Stephen Lesfloris (577) and Gilbert Popo (571). All are SLBC candidates. Not elected were all six BSC candidates, viz. Fred Flood (342); Hyacinth Augustin (295); Gilbert Pierre (329); Jonathan Hunte (310); Patrick Ernest (311) and Richard James (301).
At an SLBC board meeting following Monday's election, Patrick Joseph was re-elected Executive Chairman of the SLBC by his co-directors.
Meanwhile, minister for Foreign Affairs George Odlum, at a press conference this week, warned that a continuation of in-fighting amongst farmers could hamper diplomatic efforts by the St. Lucian government and other allies to help the Windward Islands banana industry. This is reported in One Caribbean. "Now that they've had the meeting and they've come to a democratic solution I hope this will be the jumping off ground for a more dynamic industry", Odlum is reported to have said. The Voice editorial also urges farmers to put their differences on the back burner, and concentrate instead on finding an adequate response to the downward price pressure and to meeting market demands for sustainable fruit quality.
Also reported in The Voice this week is the news that George Odlum has secured an EC$22 million grant from the European Union under a special assistance programme which helps African, Caribbean and Pacific banana suppliers. At a press conference, Odlum explained that the $22 million will be used to support commercialisation of the banana industry; diversification of the agricultural sector, and a social recovery programme for banana farmers, their families and workers who are becoming displaced as a result of being unable to survive in a fully competitive market environment.
Furthermore, Dr. Jimmy Fletcher, permanent secretary in the ministry of Agriculture, this week announced that "there is a wholesaler in the US who is interested in importing 85,000 boxes of Grade 2 bananas from St. Lucia per week". The Star goes on to report that Fletcher said that "since St. Lucia was not able to meet that demand, discussions were on-going with the two banana companies to see whether the market is one that can be served". Fletcher's announcement came at the launching of the Caricom Agribusiness Research and Training Fund (CARTF). According to Fletcher, "too often farmers and producers neglect the possibility of other markets as they remain focussed on familiar ones". The Star continues to quote the permanent secretary: "We are looking to see what percentage of that amount we can supply and how we can collaborate with our other Windward island counterparts".
CARTF will be offering grants of between US$5,000 and US$50,000 to support agro-business development through research and training in the fifteen Caricom states.
[See last week's news]
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Cuban specialists to train staff at Golden Hope
Golden Hope Mental Hospital will next month gain the temporary services of a team of eight Cuban health professionals whose task it will be to train local staff. The team consists of psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, a psychotherapist, psychologist and occupational therapist. All are expected to remain on the island for a three-month period, with the exception of the occupational therapist, who will stay for one year. This is the result of a recruitment exercise carried out by minister of Health Sarah Flood-Beaubrun, One Caribbean reports in this week's issue. The minister was in Cuba at the invitation of a Cuban counterpart, to attend a series of meetings and conferences discussing the systems of local health sectors.
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Jalousie workers reject union representation
Workers at the Jalousie Hilton hotel in Soufriere surprised unionists last week when they cast a 64 percent vote against a bid by the Vieux Fort General and Dock Workers' Union to become their recognised representative. This is reported in The Voice. Union leader Downs expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the poll, which was conducted by the Labour Department. "It is the first time we applied for recognition and got a negative response", Downs is quoted as saying, blaming the negative outcome on what he calls "a nasty campaign" by the hotel's management. But general manager of the hotel, Rui Domingues, though admitting that management had done some canvassing, stated that the outcome of the poll is demonstrative of the level of trust workers have in management. Some 85 percent of workers cast their vote.
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New lease of life for Union Farm
After having been abandoned for more than two years, the Union Farm will once again come to life now that a five-member team of agricultural specialists from the People's Republic of China (PRC) is looking into the possibilities of developing aquaculture, cut-flower cultivation, plant tissue culture, tree crop farming and irrigation and agricultural engineering at the former tree crop farm. The Union farm was abandoned after the current government severed diplomatic ties with the Republic of China (Taiwan), which had been supporting the tree crop programme at Union. This is reported in The Mirror. According to Jimmy Fletcher, permanent secretary in the ministry of Agriculture, the long-term intention is to turn Union into a demonstration farm for organic farming - an agricultural method that is gaining international popularity.
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"Simply beautiful, but dirty" - National Clean-Up Day gets underway
St. Lucia's two garbage dumps - at Ciceron and Vieux Fort - remain open all day Sunday 31st October to receive garbage collected during National Clean-up Day. The nationwide clean-up activity on Sunday has been organised by the National Trust Youth Club and received official support from the government and Solid Waste Management Authority. Both The Mirror and the weekend edition of The Voice dedicate numerous pages to the need for environmental conservation, sustainable use of natural resources and proper waste management. According to The Voice, following a clean-up action earlier this year, the president of the National Trust's Youth Club reportedly concluded that St. Lucia is "simply beautiful, but dirty". The Star also carries an announcement of Clean-up Day.
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Black Mallet disaster area: US$500m emergency loan requested
With Black Mallet having been declared an official disaster area this week, due to continuing land slippages which have already resulted in the evacuation and relocation of twenty families, the government has now asked the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to give urgent consideration to its request for a US$500,000 emergency response loan. CDB president Sir Neville Nicholas has confirmed that priority will be given to this request. The emergency response loan is needed to cover the cost of relocation and the first three months of emergency accommodation for displaced households from Black Mallet. The government has further asked the CDB for a Disaster Mitigation Loan to assist with putting into place engineering measures that can stabilise the land slippage and help prevent future damage. Meanwhile, specialists have been monitoring roads, drains, electricity and water supplies and sewerage facilities in the area, as well as houses and other buildings. A subsurface site investigation is expected to help direct actions aimed at arresting the land slippage. One Caribbean, The Voice, Mirror and Star all report on this. [See last week's news]
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Money comes through for Rat Island cultural centre
The Rat Island Foundation Project has managed to secure a grant of approximately EC$1.4 million, which will be used to build a cultural centre on the small island off Choc Beach, just north of Castries. This was announced by minister for Foreign Affairs, George Odlum. The Rat Island Foundation has been languishing for the need of funds, Odlum said. This is reported in The Voice.
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St. Lucians to assist in Haiti's election registration
St. Lucian and Dominican officials are likely to return to Haiti to assist that country with the final stages of registering all persons eligible to vote in next year's general elections. This was discussed at the 7th special summit of leaders of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) held recently in Trinidad & Tobago. In 1990, St. Lucian and Dominican officials were also present in Haiti to observe the elections which brought former president Jean Bertrand Aristide back to power. St. Lucians and Dominicans have an advantage over other Caricom members in that they speak the same Kweyol language as Haitians. A Caricom team headed by St. Vincent's prime minister Sir James Mitchell will return to Haiti shortly to determine what support Caricom can provide in next year's general elections.
According to the Thursday Voice, the overall feeling amongst regional leaders assembled at the special summit in Chaguaramas, is that Caricom machinery grinds too slowly and that it is time, in the words of Trinidad & Tobago's prime minister Basdeo Panday: "to change gears and come up with the velocity to move us forward" and "to remove the manacles and shackles of colonialism and slavery to move ahead".
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Regional tourism ministers meet in Castries
Finding ways to increase hotel investment in the member states of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) - that is the purpose of a meeting of ministers of Tourism from St. Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Kitts and Nevis. The meeting, organised under the title Eastern Caribbean Hotel and Resort Development Conference, will be held in Castries, from 7th - 10th November.
St. Lucia's minister of Tourism, Philip Pierre, in the Voice stated that Eastern Caribbean states will need to work more closely together in order to attract quality investments at competitive prices. "We have to look at several factors, building costs, cost of materials, availability of materials and then ensure that the benefits of those investments remain with the country, in the context of how much employment is generated, and how much material is sourced locally", Pierre is quoted in The Voice and Mirror newspapers.
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Jounen Kweyol integral part of island life
Although no longer occupying the front pages of newspapers, as in previous years, last Sunday's Jounen Kweyol was still good for a full-colour centerspread in The Star, and a page in The Mirror (simply headlined: 'Another Jounen Kweyol'). Focussing on the communities of Anse la Raye on the west coast, and Piaye in the south, Jounen Kweyol once again attracted thousands of participants. The Piaye celebrations reportedly suffered from rainy and muddy conditions and the La Wenn Kweyol Sent Lisi (National Creole Queen Show) in the lead-up to Sunday's Jounen Kweyol was cancelled because of a lack of contestants, but Saturday's Asou Skwe in Castries received a good turn-out and Sunday's fete in Anse la Raye was precisely that: a fete which resulted in jam-packed roads. A central feature of every Jounen Kweyol, people islandwide indulged in traditional dishes served in calabashes. As The Mirror reports: "farine and zaboca balls, saltfish stew garnished with cucumbers, dumpling and salted pigtail bouillon, breadfruit and roasted salted herring, fresh fish broth, turnover pastry, fishcakes and bakes, local confectionery, lime squash, beer and rum" all featured high on the menu. All newspaper reports compliment the Folk Research Centre - the initiator of Jounen Kweyol and Kweyol Heritage Month - for its contribution to raising people's awareness of the island's creole heritage.
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