POLICE yesterday confirmed that Nepalese students victims of the Lambirds Academy fiasco are missing.
Police said a report of the seven missing students was made at the Gros-Islet Police Station last Saturday.
They said the Nepalese nationals were last seen the previous evening at about 10:00 p.m. when they were headed for the Gros Islet Street Party.
Five of the nationals were housed at Marguerite’s Apartments in Massade, Gros Islet and two were housed at Lawrence Place on Marina Street, Gros Islet.
The names of the Napalese nationals are: DipakSapkota, 22, Chandra BahadurThapa, 22, Ankit Dhakal,18, PradipAdhikari, 23, DipakBhujel, 20, Sharma Kafle-Arjun, 32 and Numkala Tiwari, 20.
Police have asked anyone with information which could assist with the investigations to contact the Gros Islet Police Station at telephone numbers 456-3830 or 456-3990.
The Nepalese are among more than 60 Asian students who have been left stranded in St. Lucia after the Lambirds Academy, where they came to St Lucia to study, suddenly collapsed and its operator arrested on charges of money laundering and human trafficking.
The St. Lucia Government has promised an investigation into the matter but there has been no indication when this will get underway.
I hope the powers that be are reading, and have learned some lessons from this whole sorry episode. St Lucia should not be an ‘open’ place for people to come and do as they please. It’s not until the music stops, and you see some of the announcements by ministers that those governing us are really out of their depth. It’s not party political, it’s everyone.
The day to day work of government is boring, exacting and needs people in the front line who are capable of implementing the policy as set out. The reason much of the country is bad is not because of the laws, but because of the quality of civil servant doing the work. None of the current crop of politicians really understands how to manage reasonably large projects, budgets, timescales, accountability.