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Quote:
"Something has to be done and the same way marijuana is the simple, pragmatic answer for our agricultural economy, casinos are the practical thing to turn to at this point in tourism - one simply has to take care not to point the loaded gun at one's own head".
Jason Sifflet in The Mirror, 14/01/00
Disease and conflict force banana sector to its knees
Leaf spot disease - or yellow sigatoka - is spreading 'like flu' through St. Lucia's banana fields, driving farmers out of business and crippling the production capacity of those who remain. This is reported in The Mirror. "A fair share of responsibility" for the spread of the disease, says The Mirror, must be taken by the St. Lucia Banana Corporation (SLBC). As of January 1st of this year, SLBC chairman Patrick Joseph grounded the company's Crop Protection Unit 1 - including the spraying aircraft and field workers who monitor the disease. This was done, the Mirror alleges, because non-SLBC members benefitted from aerial spraying without paying for this. But leaf spot disease is not the only danger the banana industry is faced with at the moment. In-fighting within and between various banana-buying companies, the dawning of a new WTO-compatible banana regime, and the withdrawal by Chiquita of four atmosphere-controlled banana boats all signal that even harder times are still ahead in the island's main export industry. The only glimmer of hope in this situation is the announcement, also this week, that St. Lucia is one of the first countries to qualify for financial assistance from the European Commission, to help assist banana producing households that can no longer survive in a fully competitive market. So far, 2,200 farming families have had to abandon their banana crops as a result of the restructuring process, according to a government press release published in all main newspapers this week.
With respect to leaf spot disease, there are no figures available to indicate the precise extent of the disease at the moment but The Mirror claims that the current "scare" might turn into "a real epidemic by the end of this month". In its editorial, the paper continues: "If that aerial plane doesn't go back into action soon, the banana industry, already on its knees, could fall on its behind and that's only one step away from falling face down in the mud on the level playing field".
The fruits that escape leaf spot disease face yet another quality hazard. On 28th December, the SLBC learned that the four ships that have been used for the past two years to transport Windward bananas to the UK market, have been retrieved by their owner, Chiquita, to serve elsewhere. The four boats featured temperature-controlled storage space, ensuring that bananas arrived at the overseas marketplace in optimal condition. "The obvious result of that will be to ship ripened fruit, which is completely unsellable, but which costs a bundle in freight charges", writes The Mirror.
The issue of freight charges is also a painful one, and lies at the heart of ongoing controversies between the SLBC and WIBDECO in particular. SLBC has been vigorous in its criticism that WIBDECO is taking too much money for acting as a middle man between the banana companies and the overseas markets, especially by making farmers pay extra for so-called 'dead weight', that is, empty space on the ships. "We have to try something because of the way WIBDECO is dealing", a SLBC official told The Mirror. "Right now, SLBC is in a position where we have a 950 ton a week quota and if we are below quota we have to pay so much dead freight. But as if that isn't bad enough, WIBDECO also says we have to pay four pounds fifty for every box over the quota. So produce less, you lose, produce more, you lose. We can't continue under those conditions". At a recent meeting, the SLBC was the only banana company in the Windwards to decline prolonging its yearly contract with WIBDECO. Attempting to cut out WIBDECO, the SLBC finds itself in a position where it needs to compete with it - not always successfully. Recently, the SLBC tried to enter into a direct deal with a British supermarket, Keelings, but was prevented from seeing this through after WIBDECO threatened the supermarket with court action. The Mirror reports on this. WIBDECO, in turn, appears to be interested in buying fruit directly from farmers - thus providing direct competition for the SLBC and St. Lucia's other main banana-buying company, Tropical Quality Fruit.
In all, as The Mirror sums up the present situation: "Windward banana partners started the 'mew millennium' by tearing into each other, threatening to sever relations with each other, sabotaging attempts of others to sever relations and putting measures in place that are sure to damage both production volumes and quality. The situation is more serious than it seems on the surface".
Meanwhile, The Tuesday Voice reports that the SLBC is hosting a series of ten meetings with banana farmers around the island in preparation for the adverse effects expected in the industry. Out of the meetings, a plan of action must emerge "aimed at significantly reducing the involvement of the middlemen - Geest and WIBDECO", an SLBC statement says.
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New money laundering act criminalises gambling
Licensed gambling - soon to be legalised by government - contravenes the recently passed Money Laundering (Prevention) Act, in which gambling, along with abduction, blackmail, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, fraud, robbery, terrorism and prostitution, is deemed a criminal offence. This perceived contradiction within St. Lucia's legislation is hailed as "another example of the inconsistencies in policy and practice of the St. Lucia Government" by The Mirror newspaper, which devotes its front page to the issue. The Money Laundering Act was published in the 31st December issue of the Government Gazette. Two weeks ago, the minister of Tourism announced that the government intends to legalise licensed gambling. The issue of gambling, and the manner in which the decision has come about, has aroused much debate within the country.
The Mirror quotes from the Money Laundering Act, which states that "a person who engages in money laundering [including gambling] commits an offense and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than half a million dollars or to a term of imprisonment of not less than five years and if the conviction is on indictment the fine is not less than one million dollars or a term of not less than ten years". The paper concludes that: "there are all sorts of implications for St. Lucians who innocently or otherwise participate in games of chance, not to mention the nationally endorsed Lotto. Chances are a Lotto winner can find himself in hot water, having to pay a lot more than he would have won, at least until the Minister decides to return to Parliament and delete gambling from the list of prescribed offences".
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PROUD: squatters' scheme launched this week
To give public squatters the opportunity to own a piece of land and a house - that is the rationale behind the special land reform programme that is to be launched on Thursday 22nd January. PROUD - an abbreviation for Programme for the Regularisation of Unplanned Development - is the brainchild of prime minister Dr. Kenny Anthony and will be executed over the next five years by the PM's office, the National Development Corporation (NDC) and the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDC). In the past, many St. Lucians have illegally occupied a significant proportion of developable land owned by the government, resulting in congestion and constraints to proper physical planning. Rather than relocating these squatters to other government-owned sites, PROUD intends to give the squatters access to plots of land of their own. The Thursday Voice and The Mirror report this.
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Baby stolen from hospital retrieved safely
A new born baby that was stolen from St. Jude's Hospital in Vieux Fort last Monday, was found by police the following day and safely returned to its parents. An 18-year-old woman from Gadette, Dennery posed as a nurse and took the child from its mother, supposedly for a health check. When the would-be nurse did not return, hospital staff was alerted and a full-scale search of the premises was conducted. However, it was not until police received a tip-off, the following day, that the baby was found in a house in Gadette, Dennery. An 18-year-old woman eventually confessed to having stolen the child. She has been taken into custody and awaits trial. Reportedly, she had been yearning for a child and had informed family and friends that she was pregnant. The baby and her real parents have returned to their home at La Tourney, Vieux Fort. The Crusader, Thursday Voice and Bava report on this.
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EC Express and HelenAir negotiate take-over
Eastern Caribbean Express, a subsidiary of Air Jamaica, is negotiating to take over HelenAir - St. Lucia's sole but ailing national carrier - however the two parties involved are giving different reports to the media with respect to the status of the deal. Allen Chastanet, negotiator for EC Express, confidently announced last Monday that "a tentative agreement" had been reached and that a final announcement could come before the weekend. HelenAir director Arthur Neptune, however, denies that any kind of agreement has been reached as yet, although he does not deny that negotiations are taking place. "We are currently negotiating with EC Express, they have placed certain proposals on the table which we find unacceptable, we have since forwarded a counter proposal and we await their response", says Neptune, according to The Star. Chastenet, however, stated in the Tuesday Voice that "There is a great opportunity to be had by acquiring HelenAir and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it will be concluded soon and everything works out well". Chastanet emphasised, however, that even if the deal falls through, EC Express may continue without HelenAir. He claims that aircraft have already been acquired and applications for landing rights have been made. EC Express will be based in St. Lucia but operate a hub out of Barbados. The Star, Crusader and Voice all report on the potential airline take-over.
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Travel agents boycot AA - Air Jamaica next?
Travel agents in St. Lucia have joined their colleagues in other Caribbean islands in boycotting American Airlines after the company suddenly announced a cut-back of 33 percent in the commissions it pays to agents. The St. Lucia Association of Travel Agents (SLATA) fears that the decision by the US airline giant means that a number of local travel agents may be forced out of business. SLATA's president Jerrard Bergasse calls the measure "yet another mercenary move by American Airlines to wipe off the travel agency community and get rid of the middleman". Currently, travel agents earn a 9 percent commission on every airline seat they sell. The cut-back means that travel agents will effectively earn one-third less where AA tickets are concerned. Travel agents are further vexed over the manner in which AA announced the reduction: by unsigned fax, with neither forewarning or discussion. AA says the reduction is necessary to offset high costs.
Travel agents' initial reaction has been to boycott the sale of AA tickets - channelling customers through to regional carriers instead, such as Air Jamaica and BWIA. But travel agents face further threats after Air Jamaica announced that it, too, will have to cut back on commissions in the next seven weeks - although so far this only affects travel agents in Jamaica itself.
In addition to boycotting the sale of AA tickets, the CEO of International Travel Consultants Newman Monrose has proposed that travel agents and local governments should tell AA to get their reservation systems and ground handling equipment out of the country. The reservation system used by all travel agents in St. Lucia - Sabre - belongs to AA and favours information about flights for that particular airline. According to The Voice, travel agents met with Aviation and Tourism minister Phillip J. Pierre on Friday. Both parties agreed to review the use of the Sabre reservations system and the exclusive rights for ground-handling at both airports by Caribbean Dispatch Services Ltd. The Voice, Star and Mirror all report on the AA boycott.
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Touristic development at Grande Anse allegedly underway
Rumour has it that Grande Anse is once again subject to the attention of a major tourism developer, with an Environmental Impact Assessment allegedly having been done last month to establish the impact of putting a golf course on the 2000-acre estate, but official government sources remain silent on the subject, claiming not to know who the developers are, or what is going on. This is reported in The Mirror. "The developers are back, the equipment is moving in and the roads are being repaired. ... It seems Grande Anse Beach is once again on its way to being developed for mass tourism. And once more, it seems official ignorance is allowing developers to proceed with building up the natural and archaeological site without going through the standard development procedures", writes the newspaper.
In the past, two successive governments have had meetings with the Danish-American investor Tibor Hollo regarding the development of mass tourism on the remote north-eastern coastal area. Grande Anse originally contained some of the most rare, indigenous wildlife of St. Lucia, including turtles, iguanas, butterflies, rodents and birds but in recent years, indiscriminate illegal sandmining has reduced the beach to "a gutted, flooded shadow of the legendary Grande Anse that was known in the 20th century".
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Martiniquan starts free milk programme in St. Lucian schools
Some 3,000 children, distributed over 27 preschools and primary schools in the south-west of St. Lucia are each set to receive half a pint of milk twice weekly from the Beausejour Dairy Farm in Vieux Fort. The free milk programme has been initiated by Maryse Francois, president and founder of the Martinique and St. Lucia Association for Youth Education, in collaboration with the ministry of Education's district education officer, Ignatius Evans. The scheme will cost approximately EC$450,000 for one year - part of which has already been secured from the French government and the Regional and General Coucils of Martinique. "The aim of this programme is to foster closer links between Martinique and St. Lucia and to build bridges between our two islands, while at the same time trying to promote education and health among the island's priority cases - the needy and the poor", said Maryse Francois. "We have looked to the southwest of the island because it is less developed than the north and because it has a tradition which is closely linked to our own in Martinique". It is hoped that the programme will also provide some employment for milk deliverymen. The Star reports this.
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Canadian cited to take over as police commissioner
Police Commissioner Francis Nelson is scheduled to leave the force on pre-retirement leave by the middle of this year. This is announced in The Voice. According to the paper, a Canadian who arrived in St. Lucia last week has been tipped to become Nelson's successor. Neither the ministry of Home Affairs nor police authorities want to divulge any information on the subject. Nelson has only been Police Commissioner since last year. Since the St. Lucia Labour Party came into government in May 1997, "several changes have taken place in the higher echelons of the police force as part of a police reform process which has been spoken of quite a lot by the prime minister", writes The Voice. The other two top positions in the police force are currently filled by Ausbert Regis (Assistant Commissioner for Operations) and Hermangild Francis (Assistant Commissioner for Crime).
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Police find $300,000 worth of marijuana plants - 6,000 kept as exhibits
Acting on a tip-off, police this week discovered a marijuana plantation in the Morne Ciseaux area, Anse la Raye. Arrested were two men from Anse la Raye, who were found in a shed on the plantation when the policemen arrived. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges of illegal possession and illegal cultivation of marijuana. Police officers reportedly uprooted about 30,000 marijuana plants, of which 24,000 have been burnt while the remaining 6,000 plants have been kept as exhibits. The street value of the marijuana is estimated at $300,000. The Voice reports this.
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Survey of wages and benefits published
The St. Lucia Employers Federation (SLEF) this week launched a 130-page 'Survey of Labour Earnings and Benefits', detailing the salaries, wages and fringe-benefits payable to all grades of employees in St. Lucia, from management to junior clerical and janitorial staff and spanning all sectors of employment, including manufacturing, retail, wholesale, the hospitality and service industries, public utilities and statutory boards. The document covers both unionised and non-unionised workplaces. The survey is intended to provide employers and human resource managers with a document to help them determine compensation levels for their staff. The Star and Voice both report this.
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Development planner Charles-Soomer new manager at NDC
Elizabeth Charles-Soomer is the new manager of the St. Lucia National Development Corporation (NDC), where she succeeds Jacqueline Albertini. Charles-Soomer holds Masters degrees in Geographic Information Systems and in Development Planning and she is the former Deputy Head of the Physical Planning section of the ministry of Planning. The Voice reports this.
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