Fix the Roads

Fix the Roads
As the sun rises from the Atlantic Ocean and smiles on the communities dotting the east coast of St Lucia, this awesome image illustrates the vast potential within these communities, from Dennery to Derisieux. Our wonderful communities are deserving of the best political representation possible.
When people go to the poles to vote they do so hoping that the people they elect to represent them are going to work towards bettering their welfare. And it expected that the elected representative has a vision for making their communities and constituents better. Finally if they are elected they will set in motion initiatives that would accomplish the desires of their constituents.
Usually when an election draws near the roads in communities are repaired. Fixing community roads are necessary measure but not sufficient to ensure a candidate election. The roads island wide should be constantly maintained, especially since they are essential for commuting and for the easy flow of goods and services. Suffice to say a robust economic strategy would entail reinjection of moneys into the economy through the maintenance and repair of the country’s infrastructure. This should be done throughout the year.
The strategy of repairing roads prior to election may have been a useful political ploy during the heyday of farming on the east coast, when these communities were rife with banana farmers, however considering the extinction of the farming industry and the lack of FAR licence plates on the roads, I don’t think that fixing the roads before an election will hold as much political clout as it once did.
Apart from just fixing roads before an election what can our representatives in the east work towards here are some ideas, that they may consider addressing, the Fisheries industry. The fishing communities of Dennery , Praslin , Micoud would like to see a comprehensive fishing policy one that takes into account strategies for marketing their catch, domestically and internationally. The farmers of Derisieux, Digaurd , Micoud , Mon Repos, Patience, La pointe , Lumbard Praslin and Dennery all want to see a comprehensive Agricultural policy that addresses the need for a viable agricultural sector.
The elderly of these communities need some form of social safety net that works in enabling them to age with dignity. Their needs to be some form of support for the aging because I don’t think the NIS scheme works for the aging. The young people graduating from secondary schools want opportunity. They need services that give them options and choices. They want to get a job work on going to university or college and they need services that offer career development opportunities. Sports men and women need support to develop their skill and so do the arts and entertainment fields.
The professionals in our society needs the country to invest in its human capital, the teachers , policemen, firemen, doctors and bus drivers to name a few wants there to be avenues for professional development and to better their overall societal welfare.
So instead of three and a half years of nothing and a few month of road fixing before election day we want people who outline visions for our communities while vying for our votes and if they a elected on our behalf , begin to work for the betterment of our communities from their first day in office.

From Banana Wars To Off Shore Banking

From Banana wars to International Banking
We have transitioned predominantly from a mono cropping agricultural society to a society heavily reliant on tourism. Hopefully we will continue to explore offshore banking and explore every possible avenue to bolster the service sector. It was a difficult transition for a country that had so many families reliant on banana farming. Overseas remittances helped to sooth some of the pain and there was also a great exodus of labour. The country had to let go of the heady days of banana money and we must now focus on the future
It may be said that St Lucia has transitioned from an agricultural economy to a service based economy. Nobel laureate Sir Arthur Lewis and other noted economists hypothesized that economies transition from a predominantly agricultural based society towards more service oriented industries. The United States for example has Wall Street the epitome of a service based society.
The tourism industry is the biggest contributor to per capita GDP for St Lucia consequently the St Lucian economy is heavily service sector oriented. It is not to say that Manufacturing and Agriculture do not contribute to the economy, but the tourism industry contributes the biggest slice of the pie. It is important to recognize however that both manufacturing and agriculture are both essential contributors to the growth and stability of a vibrant economy as the saying goes you do not put all your eggs in one basket.
The Banana Industry, The Manufacturing Industry and the Service sector are three important parts of an economy. It is like the three legs of the stool which an economy stands upon. How do we revive the banana industry or should we abandon banana as a cash crop. Should we encourage manufacturing companies like the garment factories to set up shop in St Lucia? Are we fully committed to transitioning into an economy characterized by service oriented industries?
There are many topics that we can be debating and trying to find answers and solutions to. Whether we like it or not we are integrated into the global economy and we must adjust as the global economy changes.

UWP or SLP

On the matter of Good governance.
How do we go about ensuring that our islands economy is properly managed? I think that the matter lies with good governance. Elected officials and the Prime Minister are charged with the proper management of the countries collective resources and since we the people are an integral part of the St Lucian economy, we must be fully committed to exercising our right to choose the managers of our economy.

I remember the days growing up as a youngster in St Lucia. Politics in those days seemed to be very partisan. On the pronouncement of an election winner there would be island wide motor rally's in which the elected parties supporters would be chanting ti croix , often times effigies were made and burnt, of the loosing parties leader. This was done to symbolize the death of the opposition parties leader.
In my idealism I would like to believe that times have changed and that our politics are not marred in partisianism. By that I mean we do not vote for a party because of habit.

It should be a habit to vote but it should by no means be a habit to vote for a particular party.Even politicians change allegiance and sometimes cross the floor. There is really no reason for being a staunch UWP or SLP supporter because there is really no difference in their political views, it is not as if one party has liberal views and the other party is conservative in their political philosophy. Where there appears to be a differentiation in representation is in the Leaders. The difference in the two parties is in the political personalities of the leaders.

That is what people are voting for the person they like the most.
The politics of personalities is what sways voters to the party. Although those representing the constituents should be judged on their merit, however in the final analysis the political leader decides the outcome. Former Prime Minister John Compton was a strong political personality. Kenny Anthony won his first term arguably on account of his new youthful persona (at the time).

Our goal is to ensure proper governance of our country, we are a small ship in a vast ocean our margin for error is thin. We must always seek to make the best choice in every situation. If we are prudent in our choices we may end up with proficient leadership. Our electoral process would then not be dictated by partisianisim but rather circumspect voting.

Whats up Doc

It seems for some reason that we are unable to get St Lucian politicians to focus on ideas, debatable ideas that are in the people’s interests. Not the discussions that are supposed to make a politician look good or those topics that are meant to make the competition look bad. We would like to know the plans that these politicians have for our Island. Some of these issues which I think merits discussion are International trade, bilingualism, citizen and immigration.
What are we doing for example to help farmers survive in this era of global agricultural trade? Is there a plan in place to ensure that we are competitive and able to hold our own on the world market? Suffice to say attempts to implement and ratify the agricultural imperatives have caused the destruction of the banana industry in St Lucia. Are we going to be better prepared for the next rounds of agreements, these aimed at the service industry? I do hope that our governments are prepared to navigate these imperative more adeptly that they handled the agricultural rounds.
Consider this as well, we are in a position to be a bilingual country, although we are an English speaking nation we are lucky enough to have a strong foundation in French. We can build upon this and we should. I believe that St Lucia should become officially bilingual and adopt French as a second language and it should become part of a compulsory curriculum. This will considerably help open new markets for our tourism industry and bolster our ability to do international business immensely.
On the issue of protecting St Lucia’s passports and citizenship, it is a commendable attempt to try and protect the authenticity of Lucian citizenship and the electoral process, through this fingerprinting scheme. However what a thin line we walk, when we finger print our own law abiding citizens. Essentially it means that all law abiding citizens who are eligible to vote are having their names placed into a data base that can be used at the government’s discretion. Of course we all will be told that the information will be protected. And while the indentations may be admirable but the potential consequences of a data base of fingerprints and names being use wrongfully is scary.
I think this jeopardizes individual rights and freedom. It is ironic that with all the legal practitioners that we have in St Lucia none have broached the topic of, individual rights and privacy protection when it come to a fingerprinting campaign by the government.

Leadears lead by example

Lately it seems that there has been a state of lawfulness in our tiny island of St Lucia. The ongoing discussion on the website about the officer and the supposed hooligan aptly illustrates the situation. I deliberately reserved passing judgement here but its ironic when we cant realy tell which one of the two should be considered a hooligan. It is not my place to judge, however I will say that the incident illustrates exactly what is wrong at present in St Lucia. wee need good governance, proper law enforcement, justice and then we will have peace.
It seems that there is a pervasive lawlessness in the island right now. Politicians appear to be able to break or bend the rules to suite their whim. There are people with questionable past’s and present associations in power. Suffice to say therefore it is not strange when the whole country appears to be running amuck.
The word anarchy is usually used to describe a situation where lawlessness prevails like during the dark ages. When we are questioning the legality of our leaders actions, when we question the justification of law enforcement officers, and when people out rightly disobey the laws of the land, we get the feeling that we are falling into a state of anarchy.
Our leaders should lead by example, gone are the days of do as I say and not as I do. Everyone layman and lawyer, should be beholden to their actions regardless of status, race or connections. We the the citizens are aware of the situation which pervades the country and when there is corruption and unlawfulness at the top then it is obvious that the malaise will spread throughout the country.
It does not surprise me then that we have a problem with justice, law and good governance because this present state of anarchy is being perpetuated by those we are supposed to look towards for direction and guidance. So the problems that we are experience in our communities are a symptom of a wider problem, a problem that has manifested itself as a situation between an officer and a supposed hooligan, but it is really an island wide malaise. This pervasion of unlawfulness in our tiny island can only be called anarchy.