PM Unveils Megabucks Tourism Package While Alliance Rips Itself Apart

by Earl Bousquet

The Prime Minister last week joined his regional counterparts for a special emergency Caricom Summit in The Bahamas that resulted in a megabucks boost for the Caribbean’s tourism industry and returned home just in time to launch NTN, the nation’s newest television network. But the time it took for him to go to Nassau and back was just enough for the opposition National Alliance to break itself in two.

The week began with confusing reports about the summit and the Prime Minister’s attendance. Some local media houses reported he was out of the country when he was still here; others reported that the meeting had been called off, when it was on. But the St. Lucia Prime Minister returned home over the weekend with much good news from the summit, especially for the tourism sector.

Dr Kenny D. Anthony, who had chaired a Caricom-appointed Special Committee on Tourism Issues reported that a report had been submitted in The Bahamas on the assigned task of proposing, designing and identifying funding for a special regional tourism marketing and promotion campaign. The committee included representatives of Jamaica, Barbados, The Bahamas and St. Lucia, reps from the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), and the Caribbean Hotels Association (CHA). The committee had been established since July at the regular Heads of Government meeting, also in Nassau, where this month’s special October 11 and 12, 2001 Summit on Tourism and Security was agreed upon.

The committee’s first meeting was on September 11, 2001 – a pure coincidence – at which a marketing and promotion strategy was agreed upon. The Governments and the Private Sector would jointly fund the package, which would be beneficial to all Caribbean states dependent on tourism.

The October 11-12 summit, which considered the rescue package for tourism in the context of the aftermath of the September 11 bombings in New York and Washington, adopted the proposal from Dr Anthony’s Committee for a US$18 million (EC$48 Million) cash injection for regional tourism. This amount will be jointly funded by the Governments, the CTO, the CHA and other regional tourism stakeholders. The plan is expected to go into action by November 2001.

Dr Anthony said St. Lucia’s share of the total package is US$575,000 (EC$1.5 million).

By the time the Prime Minister returned home from The Bahamas on the weekend, it was time for the official launching of the National Television Network (NTN), the TV system operated by the GIS to much public acclaim. Last Sunday’s launching was also addressed by the Prime Minister in his capacity as Minister of Information and Broadcasting.

The NTN, which is on CableVision Channel 2, had been running trial broadcasts for several weeks, taking local images to the screens and living rooms of St. Lucia like never before. It is also intended to provide a showcase for independent producers. The new station is operated by the Government of St. Lucia through an agreement with Cable & Wireless that allows for reservation of one of CableVision’s 40 Channels for the Government. It is expected to bring a significant increase in viewership to CableVision and GIS.

A few days earlier, it had been announced that government had granted a 15-year non-exclusive license to Cable & Wireless, which, according to Minister of Communications & Works Senator Calixte George, effectively ended the company’s over 100-year monopoly on telecommunications in St. Lucia. The minister said that with the way now cleared for competition, there were several competing bids from various companies before Government for consideration, which he said offered “many exciting possibilities.”

Soon after the license was signed, it was also announced that OECS Telecommunications operators had begun an intensive three-month specialized training course to improve their skills in the sector.

Senator George and the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Union (ECTEL) praised both developments and said they resulted from the earlier decisions taken by St. Lucia and other OECS territories to embrace telecommunications and promote reform in that sector. He said ample testimony of St. Lucia’s pioneering role in this relatively new sector also came in the hosting here recently of the major telecommunications conference a fortnight earlier, during which ECTEL and its model came under close scrutiny and review from the international participants.

During the past week, the impact of the September 11 incidents in the USA on St. Lucia continued to feature in the news. Monsignor Patrick Anthony was quoted as having said that while the US was entitled to justice, it was not entitled to revenge. That was at a time when there was mounting concern around the world about reports of innocent casualties of the war on Afghanistan, including four United Nations Staffers. Foreign Affairs Minister senator Julian R. Hunte also reaffirmed St. Lucia’s support for America’s efforts to fight terrorism globally.

For its part, the local Tourist Board last week announced it will later this month embark on a tourism promotion campaign in Martinique and Guadeloupe, in an effort to woo even more visitors from the neighbouring islands.

Health Minister Sarah Flood-Beaubrun last week addressed the launching of the Jeanice Francis Memorial Foundation. She welcomed the initiative and said each person helped would be another life saved. But she also warned the Foundation that it will face some difficult choices at times that will include considerations such as priorities versus costs, as has been the case with the Ministry of Health.

The Statistical Department on Monday launched a new Consumer Price Index, which will be the basis for consideration and measurement of consumer pricing for official purposes.

Planning and Housing Minister Dr Walter Francois last week indicated the new Physical Planning Act, which had been presented in parliament at its last sitting, “will radically change physical planning” on the island. The new law decentralizes several of the functions and processes involved in physical planning and development around the island and paves the way for new approaches, including more emphasis on local input in various considerations.

The political developments of the past week were also quite interesting. The ruling St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP) continued its election preparations by endorsing another two election candidates. Incumbent MP Ferguson John retained the Choiseul seat in a close finish in a run-off with challenger Dr Tennyson Joseph. In Castries North, Ignatius Jean was the only one left standing when other potential candidates withdrew their bids for the seat currently held by former Foreign Affairs Minister George Odlum.

The SLP also held a public meeting in Soufriere last week, which was addressed by the Prime Minister before he left for The Bahamas. Dr Anthony, waxing prophetic, told the Soufriere crowd Mr Odlum was on a destructive path in his quest to become Prime Minister. He noted the former firebrand had been a member of virtually every political movement in the country, but had wrecked each one through his reckless approach to the fulfillment of his ambition to be in charge.

True to form, Mr Odlum would within days announce he was leading a breakaway faction from the National Alliance – a virtual repeat of his action following the Labour Party’s 1979 victory, when the then Prime Minister, Allan Louisy, rejected his demands to be appointed Prime Minister after only six months in office.

Mr Odlum, appearing on national TV, moaned and bemoaned as he accused Sir John Compton of undermining him by contradicting his every public statement and seeking to turn UWP supporters of the Alliance against him. Flanked by his longtime sidekick Mr Peter Josie, Mr Odlum claimed Sir John was only interested in becoming Prime Minister. He also claimed Sir John had requested to be allowed to serve the first two years as Prime Minister, should there be an Alliance election victory.

As it turned out, Sir John and his faction of the convenient political alliance had outmanoeuvered Odlum and his faction when the Alliance met at the Skyway Inn over the weekend to elect a leadership. Mr Odlum cancelled the meeting and stayed away. But Sir John’s faction went ahead and he was elected Political Leader, effectively ending the alliance between the UWP and Mr Odlum. A new leadership of the Alliance was elected, sans George and overwhelmingly UWP. Drs Vaughan Lewis and Morella Joseph lined up with the Compton faction and virtually waved Mr Odlum goodbye. Mr Odlum has been crying “foul” since.

Meanwhile, up to yesterday, the sticky question remained as to which of the two Alliance factions will have legal claim to the Flambeau symbol, which was said to have been officially willed by the UWP to the Alliance several weeks ago. There were also questions as to whether Mr Josie continued to be a UWP Senator after having defected from the UWP wing of the Alliance. Still unanswered too, was the question of where Leader of the Opposition Louis George stands in relation to the two factions.

Alas, as one week ended and another began, the National Alliance for Unity was itself split right down the middle -- and in a dire, frantic search for some kind of political glue to bind them together in unity.

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