I watched in disbelief at a report on the drainage issue in Anse la Raye on Choice News some days ago. It reinforces to me the need for a paradigm shift from partisan politics in Saint Lucia and the need for a different kind of leadership for the development of the Anse la Raye/Canaries constituency.
While it is not my style to be confrontational and personal in my politics, the meandering of Dominic Fedee shines no bright light on the prospect for the forward advancement in the constituency. We cannot continue to pit our people one against the other, flanbovslabour or making promises on the campaign trail.
We cannot continue to dangle carrots before our people’s eyes, promising residents that under a UWP government that such a problem will not exist. It would help us to understand that to every problem there is a root cause and pinpointing that cause is integral to arriving at a viable solution. The expertise must be sought and there must be an impinging bent on reliance on local knowledge. There are civil engineers living in Anse la Raye who work with the ministry and the old folks would know the meandering of the water-flows in the village. That history may be integral to arriving at a long term, prudent solution to the problem. The drainage issue poses a health risk to the villagers and even under the leadership of a UWP health minister the problem was not attended to.
There is the likely possibility that a prudent solution to the problem may be more than five years away and we must get real with our people. You make campaign promises to the people and in an attempt to fulfil those promises you deliver to the them coal when what they need are diamonds.
I am reminded of two flood mitigation projects undertaken here some years ago; one in Castries, the other in Anse la Raye. Have these projects really helped? The foreigners contracted to do these projects have banked their gain and we are still left with the problem. Again I emphasise the need for confidence in our local expertise and complementing folk and traditional knowledge to resolving our problems.