No Growth

The Editor:

The United Workers Party drove home at their last protest march the importance of four years of no growth and called upon the Kenny Anthony Administration to make the honourable decision and vacate office by returning to the polls.

The mandate set by Dr. Anthony was the injection of EC$100 million and job, jobs, jobs. To date, we have witnessed the complete opposite but more worrisome, a loss of jobs, jobs, jobs and an increasing deficit in excess of the promised $100 million.

In South Africa last week, massive demonstrations were mounted when school fees were increased and the government was forced to recant and many buildings were set ablaze. Our humble students at Sir Arthur Lewis protested in a very humanly fashion resulting in government taking absolutely no notice of their concerns. The parents of those students were forced to confront several finance agencies on island to have their children return to their classes by taking short term loans.

I do not advocate violence in this country, but make the comparison between Saint Lucia and South Africa where the situation could have been ten times worse if Saint Lucians were not a very passive kind of people. Education remains the key to our success and unless we can provide our people with the right education Saint Lucia will continue its ongoing decline and that in itself is exceptionally sad.

–Michael R.L. Charles