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Quotes
"But perhaps the most disturbing thing about Wednesday's Straight Up programme was the sickening stench of anti-foreigner sentiment, repeated later in the evening by Francis in his DBS commentary. 'I am not anti-foreigner, not even the pale-faced variety', Francis wishes us to believe. But I am afraid, Claudius, that although you may not wish to appear a racist, if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck... you know the rest".
Journalist Molly McDaniel on Claudius Francis, former press secretary to the prime minister (The Star, 25th August).
"It may not be too far fetched to say that the people who surround this parliamentarian are much like him in many ways, and what divides him from his cabinet colleagues, is perhaps what endears him to his people".
Thursday Voice editorial on Michael Gaspard, parliamentary representative for Babonneau (23rd August).
"You are all dead men".
Email message sent to Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson from someone in St Lucia using the address: death_to_sea_shepherd @hotmail.com. The FBI is investigating the death threat, as well as remarks made on radio by Claudius Francis (Wednesday Star, 22nd August).
"29. Treat other people as you'd like to be treated. Never use bad language or send mean messages online".
'30 Ways to Stay Safe On-Line' (The Voice, 25th August).
"New Labour's form of privatisation in effect gave the industry to a single, dominant individual. I do not blame Patrick Joseph ... for the prize he obtained from Dr Anthony in exchange for his political support in 1997. He was, as a 'trade union leader' entitled to get what he could".
Dr Vaughan Lewis (The Star, 25th August).
"You were the proud possessor either of an 'innie' which meant that you possessed a neat, small, sunken navel (in which you probably collected a fair amount of lint); or you were a not-so-proud possessor of an 'outie' - the protruding kind that you usually kept hidden and wore a belt with a large buckle, which would keep it pressed down under your clothes so that it didn't show. Now, there weren't as many 'outies' as 'innies', but there were, however, a fair amount of them. The population was probably divided along one-third outie/two thirds innie lines".
Victor Marquis (The Voice, 25th August).
"Lambskin condoms can prevent pregnancy. However, they have tiny holes (pores) that are large enough for HIV to get through".
The Voice on AIDS/ HIV prevention (25th August).
"Upon questioning from police prosecutors, G. owned up to the fact that he had cut out a printed lemon from another ticket and stuck it onto the so-called winning ticket to complete a row of lemons that would have paid out $40".
The Star on court case involving fraud with a fruit loop lottery ticket. The accused was reprimanded (25th August).
"Stop opening your legs and dumping children on people who do not want them".
Letter to the editor urging men and women to take responsibility for their offspring (Thursday Voice, 23rd August/The Star, 25th August).
"Only last week there was a four or five day meeting in the National Insurance Scheme Building for the Poverty Reduction Fund. It was attended by many people. The people laughed a lot, ate a lot and generally seemed to enjoy their time at the meeting. How amazing I thought. If they had saved all the money they spent on providing snacks, lunches, and stationery materials for these people they probably could have fed all the poor folks on the island".
'A concerned citizen' (The Star, 25th August).
"A well experienced Local Chef is needed for an interactive Creole Kitchen".
Job advertisement (The Star, 25th August).
"With layers of turtle egg dripping down their sweaty faces following their leader Kenny Anthony's shocking disclosures at last Thursday's specially convened press conference, the party's spin doctors have been attempting to persuade the nation that never mind the admitted corruption, it really was party business. Nothing to do with the general public".
Rick Wayne on some Labour Party supporters' response to the occurrence of fraud in the Babonneau constituency run-off between Michael Gaspard and Felix Finisterre (The Star, 25th August).
"The coeur labah - Julian Hunte, Allan Duplessis, Tom Walcott, Baden Allain and a character known as Gearbox were far from invisible".
The Star on the Labour Party's annual Central Castries constituency congress (25th August).
"Wayne: 'You are so right. Where do you go to join the Alliance? Where does one get a card?'
Lewis: 'I don't know. I can't tell you that'."
Rick Wayne and former PM Dr Vaughan Lewis agreeing on the lack of organisational arrangements in the new Alliance for Unity (Wednesday Star, 22nd August).
"When you asked people, both polls showed it, whom do you think would constitute the best government for this country, the majority, not a big majority, said the United Workers Party. If you asked them, who do you think will win the next general election, who would you vote for in the next general election, the majority were in favour of the Labour Party".
Former PM Dr Vaughan Lewis on the outcome of political polls just before the 1997 election (Wednesday Star, 22nd August).
"To put it simply, any global economic system which starts off by treating unequals in the same way is bound to head for economic discrimination and persistent poverty in the developing and underdeveloped world".
Professor Ramesh Deosaran on globalisation (Wednesday Star, 22nd August).
"But perhaps the best news coming out of the agricultural belt this past week was the amazing story of how a Babonneau woman has produced an apple on St Lucian soil. The lady [X] of Plateau, planted apple seeds as an experiment and last week Agriculture Ministry officials confirmed she had produced an apple. She said she saw it as a message from God and that's why she named her garden in the Plateau area of Babonneas, as [sic] The Garden of Eden".
Earl Bousquet, press secretary to the prime minister (Wednesday Star, 22nd August).
"Just because a visitor arrives in St Lucia and decides to spend his money does not give us the right to charge whatever price we wish as they in fact have several other cheaper and more successful destinations they could have gone to such as Disney World, Las Vegas and embarking on a cruise".
Allen Chastanet, vice-president marketing and sales for Air Jamaica (The Mirror, 24th August).
"But we must acknowledge, every day, that the Government does not know where we are going and the Opposition does not even know who they are. ... [T]he UWP with its new layer of leadership [is] so transparent that you can't even see them - they're called the Alliance".
Jason Sifflet (The Mirror, 24th August).
"Parle says the present marketing allocation of EC$5 million 'can't even buy an advertisement on CNN'."
The Mirror quoting president of the St Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association Berthia Parle (24th August). |
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St Lucian rum finds niche export market in China
For the first time in the history of St Lucia, a home-grown product is to be sold in China – rather than the other way around. St Lucia Distillers has managed to create a slight crack in the massive Chinese consumer market with a first shipment of EC$5,000 worth of fine St Lucian rum and liqueurs. This is reported in The Wednesday Star. According to Barry Hart, director of sales and marketing at St Lucia Distillers, there is a future in the Chinese market for other local products as well. "Through a few connections we found firms which purchased our products and then shipped them to China. We are now pursuing a plan to establish direct shipping links with Chinese importers. Once this freight connection has been established, and agents are set up in China, other firms can also take advantage of these connections. Trade between China and the Caribbean is increasing and these ships are going back with nothing from the Caribbean destined to China. Our strategy at St Lucia Distillers, now, is to produce and package with that market in mind".
St Lucia Distillers already exports to the United Kingdom and is working towards entering the North American and Japanese markets also. The distillery's entry into the Chinese market is wholeheartedly supported by the minister of Foreign Affairs Julian Hunte, who reportedly believes that the notion that China is "too far to do business with" is fading. Hunte is quoted in the Wednesday Star: "We must seize the opportunities that present themselves, and those that do not readily show themselves, we must eagerly seek out. The Internet, credit cards and express couriers make the world smaller and facilitate competing on a global scale". Further according to the midweek Star, Hunte said that the Chinese market will be important to a country like St Lucia if it is to successfully compete in a global economy, and that the ministry of Foreign Affairs is therefore "proposing the establishment of diplomatic representation in Asia and teaching of the Chinese language in St Lucia via the local Embassy".
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Both SLP and UWP face internal strife
Both the St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) and the National Alliance for Unity (NA) struggled with divisions within their party ranks this week, with party leaders trying their best to contain the public embarrassment.
In the fall-out of the Gaspard/Finisterre run-off fraud debacle in the Babonneau constituency [see last week's news], staunch Gaspard supporters threatened to vote for the Alliance instead of the SLP at the next general elections if they cannot have Michael Gaspard as their representative. Gaspard's supporters apparently feel that while he represents the 'Old Labour' that they are used to, Felix Finisterre is being put forward by the SLP executive as a favoured example of the well-educated 'New Labour'. The Thursday Voice reports this and, in its editorial, further comments: "The incumbent [Gaspard], elected after the 16-1 victory in 1997, brings very little tertiary material to the academic table, and is not an intellectual force to be reckoned with in a cabinet of Ministers that consists of no less than six parliamentarians trained in the study of law, a number of post graduates and a doctor. ... One can very well understand the feeling of the people whom this incumbent has endeared himself to in the past four years. If he was good enough for them in 1998, why is he not good enough now, they rightfully ask? ... [I]t must be understood that Gaspard, though lacking in some ways, is as equally dear to the people he represents as any other parliamentarian. It may not be too far fetched to say that the people who surround this parliamentarian are much like him in many ways, and what divides him from his cabinet colleagues, is perhaps what endears him to his people".
Meanwhile, "concerned members" of the United Workers Party are disgruntled with the process in which the UWP has allowed itself to be taken in under the banner of the National Alliance for Unity. Now that the Alliance has adopted the UWP party symbol of the torch (flambeau) for use in the upcoming general elections, a number of members of three constituency groups (Gros Islet, Castries Central, Castries South) are threatening legal action against the UWP leadership. In a letter to Dr Morella Joseph, political leader of the UWP and co-leader of the Alliance, the disgruntled UWP supporters allege that she has "wrongfully, unconstitutionally and unlawfully indicated [her] intention to subsume the said name [United Workers Party] for the next general elections in favour of that of the Alliance". The use of the flambeau by the Alliance is, the angry members allege, a "gross violation" of the party's constitution. Finally, according to the UWP constitution, the party's leader, upon winning a general election, is automatically recommended for the position of prime minister. Within the Alliance's trio of leaders (Dr Joseph, Sir John Compton and George Odlum), this leadership issue is being postponed until after the elections. The letter to Dr Joseph, penned by constitutional lawyer Martinus Francois, ends by stating: "Therefore your agreements and concessions to the Alliance are ultra vires the Constitution, unconstitutional, illegal, void, and of no force. You are hereby advised to act with due process and constitutional procedure. If you persist with this illegality into the next general election my clients intend to apply to the High Court for an injunction to restrain you". Both The Mirror and Star report this.
But deputy leader of the UWP, Zephrin Francis, denies that the UWP's involvement in the Alliance is unconstitutional and is quoted in The Star as saying that the party's leadership "did receive permission from the National Council and the Executive to negotiate on the Party's behalf. A resolution had been given by the Council to continue negotiations on condition that the UWP colours and symbol were secured and that persons already recommended as UWP election candidates be given due consideration".
Furthermore, the leaders of the three constituency groups from which the allegations of unconstitutionality derive, have distanced themselves from the accusations. Both Zephrin Francis and Dr Morella Joseph say that the accusations come from people who feel "marginalised by the new arrangement" and who are merely bent on "malice", as Dr Joseph puts it. Dr Joseph also promised to "flush them out".
The National Alliance is set to hold a public meeting in the William Peter Boulevard on Monday evening. According to an announcement in The Star, "six persons are expected to make platform speeches and prospective candidates for the upcoming elections are expected to be present. Topics to be discussed include the state of St Lucia's economy, unemployment, the banana industry and its impact on the local economy, education and women's issues. Speakers will also address problems facing the island's young people and farmers". The flambeau controversy is also expected to surface. The Alliance has promised on a number of previous occasions to hold public meetings, which were subsequently cancelled.
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Claudius Francis' remarks investigated by FBI
The Violent Crimes unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States is investigating remarks made by Claudius Francis, radio host and former press secretary to prime minister Dr Kenny Anthony. The remarks were allegedly made during an August 3rd show on Radio 100, and relate to Paul Watson, captain of the Sea Shepherd Society's flagship vessel which was recently in Port Castries. Furthermore, the FBI is also looking into the matter of an emailed death threat made against Watson and which originated from St Lucia. Reportedly writing from the email address death_to_sea_shepherd@hotmail.com, the message was sent to Paul Watson from St Lucia, and stated: "You are all dead men".
According to the Wednesday Star, a transcript of Claudius Francis' edition of 'Straight Up' was sent to the Sea Shepherd's office in California, from where it was forwarded to the FBI's Violent Crimes unit. The death threat by e-mail had been received not long before that. The precise wording of Francis' remarks on 'Straight Up' was not published in the Wednesday Star, however Francis himself denies having made any direct threats against Watson, claiming merely to have remarked that Watson was lucky that no St Lucian fishermen had taken a cutlass to him whilst he was here.
[Read Sea Shepherd Report on death threat]
Watson led a crew of conservationists into Castries Harbour a few weeks ago to lobby against the St Lucian government's decision to vote alongside Japan at the International Whaling Commission, against the establishment of two whale sanctuaries in the Pacific, and in favour of whaling. The Sea Shepherd's presence gave international exposure to the fact that St Lucian fishermen continue to actively hunt pilot whales, giving lie, as the Wednesday Star puts it, "to recent government denials that whales were being killed in St Lucian waters". The Sea Shepherd's ship was eventually accused of "harassing" St Lucian fishermen and was escorted back to international waters by St Lucian authorities. The crew had been following fishing canoes and taking pictures and video footage of their activities. St Lucia's vote at the International Whaling Commission, and strong protests by local and international environmentalists, have reportedly caused at least 300 tourists to cancel their holiday plans to visit the island.
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Police concerned about growing pitbull population
The potential dangers posed by illegally imported, possibly aggressive pitbull dogs was exposed in this week's issue of The Mirror, in which Vieux Fort inspector of police Cyrus Faulkner is quoted as saying that a link exists between the local drug culture and the proliferation of pitbulls. According to the inspector, the dogs are apparently imported on the return trip after drug and firearms deals have been clinched between smugglers in St Lucia and Martinique. Pitbulls are reportedly available "in abundance" in the French territory, and "at a much cheaper price" than in St Lucia. "These dogs are bred for fighting", says inspector Faulkner, "[and] they are usually associated with drug people, who need them to protect their property". The illegality of the importation of pitbulls also worries the authorities - not only because quarantine regulations are being breached, but also because it makes it more difficult for the police to keep track of and control this growing phenomenon. Dog fighting is known to take place in St Lucia, writes The Mirror, and represents a culture itself "closely connected to gambling, which in turn is also closely related to the trade in illegal firearms and drugs".
Although alert to the problem of illegally imported pitbulls, The Mirror reports that the police are for now merely "watching".
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Engineers seek stronger voice in building projects
An Association of Professional Engineers has been formed on the island with the specific intention of having a voice in certain infrastructural projects on the island such as the construction of roads, bridges and buildings. In general, the association hopes to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas on engineering subjects among its members, and to generally advance the engineering profession and science in St Lucia. The Voice reports this.
An executive was elected for the association. At the helm now are Gabriel James (president) and Shanta King (vice-president), with Stephen Shingleton-Smith as secretary, Nigel Fulgence as treasurer, Eglan Flavien as public relations officer and Gregor Louis as floor representative.
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'Rasta leaders must guide deviant youth'
Rastafarian leaders should assume a more important role in providing leadership and direction for young people, and the government should support the National Council for Advancement of Rastafarianism in establishing a foundation which can "provide guidance, counseling [and] skills training to some of the youth who display anti-social traits and behaviour". This recommendation comes from Henry Charles who, in an open letter to The Voice newspaper, calls on Rasta elders to come forward and act as positive role models to the many young people who find themselves alienated, acting anti-socially or engaged in crime. According to the letter-writer, neither the schools nor the churches, (non)governmental agencies or the National Youth Council has managed to capture the attention of this large group of youths. "In fact, it is my view that many of the youth who are in trouble perceive the various Government agencies and even organizations like the National Youth Council as part of the Status Quo or 'system' against which they rebel or have lost faith in". In their sense of alienation and frustration, claims Charles, many of these youngsters are inclined to adopt "some aspects of the Rastafari faith, although the anti-social and deviant behaviour many of them display is not condoned by genuine Rastafari brethren". Charles calls upon the "many upful, talented and conscious persons" such as "Brothers like Ras Soucou, Get Through, Wisely, Jah T, Ras Ipa and many others" to provide "support and guidance to these young people".
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Dr Vaughan Lewis: SLP caused disaster in bananas
Dr Kenny Anthony has used the banana farmers as political leverage and fodder to win the 1997 elections; unnecessarily and recklessly absorbed the $45 million debt of the St Lucia Banana Growers Association once his government came into office; embarked on a programme of 'false privatisation' of the banana industry and all but ignored the urgent need to set up irrigation schemes and effective crop spraying. So says former prime minister Dr Vaughan Lewis who appeared on the DBS TV show 'Talk' with Rick Wayne last week. Parts of that interview are printed in this week's issues of the Wednesday and weekend Star.
Figures published by the Windward Island Banana Exporting and Development Company (WIBDECO) show that St Lucia's banana exports for this year so far are down by almost fifty percent: from 40,075 tonnes last year (January-July), to just 21,545 tonnes this year for the same period. For the four Windward Islands as a whole, production has fallen from 78,599 tonnes last year to 52,601 this year. According to WIBDECO's statistics, "At the end of the first half of the year, the Windwards had earned EC$54.7 million from their trade with Europe compared with EC$60.2 million for the same period last year".
Dr Vaughan Lewis, who was prime minister from 1996 until his party's defeat in 1997, reflects at some length on the past fifteen years of banana affairs in St Lucia. Basically, Dr Lewis claims that St Lucia has known since 1986 that the banana industry would be in for a rough ride, and that preparations were underway to come to terms with the effects of increasing global competition. However, says Dr Lewis, the current Labour Party government was "determined to substantially ignore the agreement we had finalised with the European Union, and went off on the frolic of so-called 'privatisation' that has turned out to be a disaster for the industry". Dr Lewis levels his criticism of the Labour government's handling of the banana industry at four main issues.
First of all, he blames Dr Kenny Anthony for undermining the then UWP government's negotiations with the United States, in 1996/7. "In the midst of very delicate negotiations we were having with the Americans to persuade them to halt their attack on us at the WTO - an attack strongly supported by Chiquita - Dr Anthony announced that he favoured negotiations to cut a deal with Chiquita. Anthony's view was believed to support a similar view held by Patrick Joseph. Imagine the comfort which this gave to the Americans and Chiquita. I continue to believe that Anthony's statement seriously undercut the Windward Islands' credibility in this deadly battle".
Secondly, Dr Lewis alleges that Dr Anthony unnecessarily burdened his new Labour government with a $45 million debt by wiping out the SLBGA's debt. According to Dr Lewis, in late 1996, the European Union had agreed to absorb $15 million of that debt, the government would absorb another $15m, and the banana industry itself would remain responsible for the remaining $15m. But Dr Anthony promised that his government, if elected, would wipe out the entire amount by itself. Says Dr Lewis: "The sustained support of the Salvation Committee for the Labour Party during the election was therefore hardly a surprise. Whether Chiquita gave support too we will never know. ... Why Dr Anthony, on his assumption of power, did not accept [the EU's] offer, and save St Lucians additional financial burden which we are feeling to heavily today, can only be explained by saying that he was determined to repay his political debt to the Salvation Committee in full, even if he was going to use our money to do it".
Dr Lewis' third objection to Dr Anthony's handling of the banana industry rests in the manner in which the sector was privatised. "New Labour's form of privatisation in effect gave the industry to a single, dominant individual. I do not blame Patrick Joseph ... for the prize he obtained from Dr Anthony in exchange for his political support in 1997. He was, as a 'trade union leader' entitled to get what he could. But the effects of the government's embarkation on the programme of what can only be called 'false privatisation' are now there for all to see. Farmers languish in despair as they have been bereft of credit and arrangements for the increasingly costly inputs. There have been mismanaged arrangements for crop-spraying using the farmers' cess deductions and unstable arrangements for the sale of bananas as small, uneconomic companies desperately compete with each other".
Incidentally, the government recently announced that it has begun to disburse funds to assist farmers. Two weeks ago, minister of Agriculture Cassius Elias announced in The Mirror that following the drought and onslaught of leaf spot disease, some fields have been replanted and fruits are now "growing nicely".
Dr Lewis' fourth lament ties in with this and revolves around the issue of irrigation. "In my Budget of April 1997", says Dr Lewis in The Star, "I had allocated EC$5m from funds largely granted by the Europeans for a start to our irrigation programme. This was completely ignored by the government. This year, the deep drought has devastated our farmers' fields. I have personal experience of the success in productivity of a few farmers who were able to afford to go ahead and irrigate their farms. Imagine if Dr Anthony had pursued the programme island-wide over these last four years how our farmers would be feeling today, in spite of lower prices". According to Dr Lewis, despite lower prices, farmers would have still had the volume to make a sustainable living.
Based on the perceived shortcomings, Dr Lewis' overall judgement of the Labour government's role in the banana industry cannot be but harsh. "This is a neglect of the farmers' interest, and the national interest, that is hard to forgive. All we now have to show for Dr Anthony's frolic in the banana fields over these last four years, is $45m of debt burden. This was intended to free Pat Joseph's St Lucia Banana Corporation of debt as it started off. Today the SLBC has, I believe, over $20m of debt. A wild adventure ventured. and nothing gained - at least not by the farmers of St Lucia".
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