Alliance Fracture Deepens Beyond Repair On Elections Eve - October 23, 2001

by Earl Bousquet

Tourism Minister Menissa Rambally announced last week that the number of visitors to the island would surpass 500,000 in the current season. The minister spoke while welcoming two new vessels of the Celebrity Cruise Lines on their maiden voyage here.      

Ms rambally had earlier indicated that St. Lucia continues to be at the top of the Caribbean’s cruise ship arrivals list, with the island once again registering the highest growth rate in that sector. In the past year, the island boasted a 23% increase in cruise arrivals, maintaining its lead for the third consecutive year.

            The good news about cruise arrivals came at a time when the hotel sector continued to suffer from lower arrival rates. The Caribbean’s tourism industry was already suffering from a slump caused by the global recession before the September 11 events in the US and the situation has since worsened. It is estimated that hotel occupancy in the Caribbean is now down by some 60%.

            Against this background, Executive Vice President of the St. Lucia Hotels & Tourism Association (SLHTA) Rodinald Soomer was quoted as having called for government to transfer the monies being spent on agriculture and bananas to the more important tourism industry. This evoked a strong reaction from Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Jimmy Fletcher, who described it as “ridiculous and absurd” since it “disregards the need for food security and rural development. “

The PS said he was in full agreement that tourism needs a marketing boost, but insisted that “should and could not be at the expense of financial support for agriculture.”

The local hoteliers were also quoted as having poured some cold water on Caricom’s recent unveiling of a US$18 million regional tourism promotion and marketing package to be financed by the region’s governments and the private sector. However, SLHTA President Berthia Parle was quoted as saying the amount was not enough for what was needed.

For his part, Prime Minister Dr Kenny D. Anthony, who chaired the meeting of the special Caricom-appointed multi-sector committee that proposed the package, said the region’s industry needed all the support it could get at this point. In this regard, he said, Caribbean hoteliers needed to realize that they too have to prepare to make their important contribution to the resurrection of the Caribbean’s tourism industry in the post-September 11 era.

Meanwhile, the St. Lucia Tourist Board announced it will launch its own website later this month as it continues to market St. Lucia abroad.

The good news from the health sector this past week was Cabinet’s approval of a $3 million package to provide for a new renal analysis unit at Victoria Hospital to be equipped and staffed with modern machines and highly trained personnel. Two new medical specialists will be added to the unit while various services and departments will be combined to ensure better health service to patrients.

The approved funds will provide for renovation of the existing unit and installation of the equipment, during which period persons currently being treated with renal dialysis at Victoria Hospital will be transferred to Tapion Hospital.

The decision was welcomed by the Voice newspaper yesterday, which, in an editorial, said the move will benefit and should be appreciated by those whom it will benefit. But the rare editorial accolade didn’t come without its side shot. The paper also described the needed improvement in the quality of service as “an entitlement” for those for whom it is intended.

Two meetings of a regional nature took place here in the past week. The first was a meeting of Cariforum Ministers with a delegation from the European Union to discuss issues relating to trade and aid. The Caribbean delegations, led by Caricom Secretary General Dr Edwin Carrington, registered their displeasure with what they said was a cut in aid from the EU.

The EU had announced a reduction in aid from 90 million Euros to 57 million Euros. However the EU officials attending the meeting said the amount was not reduced when the value of other ongoing projects was added, including aid to rice, bananas and the fight against AIDS. They explained that the amount of aid allocated and announced could be topped up based on needs and performance in the region.

The second meeting of some regional significance was between Guyana’s Minister for External trade Clement Rohee and Guyanese resident in St. Lucia.

Mr Rohee, who was here for the Cariforum meeting, took the opportunity to update Guyanese resident here on developments at home.

The meeting, which took place at the NIS Conference Centre, was organized by the Office of the Honorary Consul of Guyana in St. Lucia, Mr Lokesh Singh. Members of the Guyana St. Lucia Association also participated.

During the meeting, the Guyanese Minister said his government was willing to cooperate with the St. Lucia police in tracking down and bringing to justice a man accused of swindling many St. Lucian’s in a used car scandal, disappearing with what is said to be hundred of thousands of dollars worth of deposits from dozens of unsuspecting persons.

St. Lucians this past week began getting a better picture of patterns of population growth, with the release by the Statistics Department of a preliminary report on the 2001 census. It revealed the country’s population had grown by 14.4% to 152,000 in the last ten years, with the quarter of Gros Islet registering the largest growth of 41%. The village of Anse la Raye also witnessed a 22% growth in population in the same period, a factor attributed to its proximity to Castries.

An interesting finding by the national survey was St. Lucians are spending less of their disposable income on food. The statisticians explained that was because St. Lucians are earning more today and therefore have more to spend on non-food items, which can be interpreted as evidence of the increasing affluence of the society.

In other good news from the past week, the St. Lucia Solid Waste Management Authority has started plans for this year’s National Clean-up Activity from November 9 to 11.

The SLSWMA, which took responsibility for organizing the event last year, has mobilized students, parents, community groups and organizations across the country for this effort, which involved a weekend of cleaning-up of communities, school compounds, roadsides and other areas where litter may be prevalent or where the environment can do with some cleaning-up.

Through the voluntary efforts of citizens and the support of government and the private sector, the SLSWMA has been making an impact on instilling a measure of environmental cleanliness in the minds of St. Lucians of all ages and in all communities.

The Bexon Primary School yesterday participated in its own school-based activity, with students and teachers participating in a voluntary effort to clean the surroundings of their school.

In still more good news, Prime Minister Anthony on Thursday last announced that another phase of the National Conservation Authority’s popular STEP programme will commence on November 1.

The announcement, which was made last Thursday, was greeted with much welcome among those who appreciate its importance to the thousands of unskilled and semi-skilled persons who depend on the NCA’s National Beautification Programme to earn a daily bread while keeping the country clean and beautiful.

In the politics of the past week, the Electoral Department announced it had its machinery in order should the Prime Minister decide to call a snap general election. The Acting Chief Elections Officer gave the assurance when contacted and questioned by media personnel.

The confirmation came at a time when the nation was on alert last week for what had been billed as a public meeting at which the Prime Minister would have announced the date for the next general election. But that was not to be as the Prime Minister indicated at last Thursday’s SLP Public Meeting on the Castries Market Steps that the time was not yet ripe, even though that time may not be very far away.

Speculation of the possible setting of the election date had been set by pronouncements of various possible dates by opposition figures and media personalities not any position to know.

During the past week too, the chasm between the players in the apparently formerly united National Alliance widened, with Dr Morella Joseph announcing on Thursday night the withdrawal of the UWP from the Alliance.

The night before, George Odlum’s faction of the Alliance tried to mount a public meeting on the William Peter Boulevard at which Senator Peter Josie also signaled his abandonment of the UWP, which brought into sharp focus the question of his senatorial position as a representative of the UWP in the Upper House.

The following day, UWP Secretary Stephenson King wrote the Elections Commission indicating his party intended to contest the election with the Flambeau as its symbol. But the leader of the Odlum Faction of the fractured alliance was holding on to the symbol, which he said had been handed over to him by the UWP Leader.

Sir John Compton and Odlum continued to attack each other in the past week, with Odlum saying the former Prime Minister’s mind was too twisted to allow for the thinking that will keep an alliance together and Sir John responding that Odlum was the last thing on his mind at the moment.

There were confusing media reports towards the end of the week as to the fate of the alliance, with some reporting of efforts to have the two factions heal their wounds while the leaders continued their sniper attacks on each other. But the rumours of a make-up turned out to be more imagined than real, with the pullout by the UWP and its announced “divorce” from what Dr Joseph described as “this off season carnival,” signaling the end of the road for an always shaky opposition unity on the eve of a general election.

Prime Minister Anthony, who holds the cards as to when elections will be called, said he was far from happy with the situation created by the fighting opposition politicians, “as it serves to further alienate people and breed more distrust of politicians by the youth.”

As the week ended, Odlum’s faction held a sparsely attended launching congress at the National Cultural center, where the four personalities already introduced were reintroduced. Mr Odlum said after the meeting that he had been “unanimously elected by acclamation” as the political leader.

And in the latest political news of the week, Castries North West Babonneau MP Michael Gaspard announced on Monday would not be contesting the upcoming general elections. He said he discussed the decision with family, friends and supporters and thought it was in their best interests.

He said, however, that while he would not participate in the runoff to choose a candidate for the seat, he would support the selected candidate and will campaign for the seat to be held on to by the SLP.

Mr Gaspard said he was ashamed and disappointed by the fraud that took place during the first run-off and assured he had nothing to do with it, he also said he was pleased that the Labour Party was taking steps to punish those guilty and to address concerns he had about how the process was handled.

Prime Minister Anthony, who is also political leader of the SLP, welcomed the move and thanked Mr Gaspard for “putting the interest of the party above that of self.”

October 23, 2001

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