THE SLP got together on Sunday, July 30th in Micoud South to protect and celebrate their July 26th, 2021 General Elections victory. It has been declared by many, even a sizeable percentage of SLP supporters, that the St. Lucia Labour Party scored an F on their two-year Report Card. Nothing tangible has been achieved in two years! On that score, enough said on the ludicrous and vacuous celebrations.
It was most farcical listening to the Parliamentary Representative for Castries North, the Minister Responsible for the country’s Infrastructure including our Air and Sea Ports, giving his mendacious version of the Hewanorra International Airport Redevelopment Project. A Minister who was in charge of this same Project for five years under the former UWP administration declared that his former Party’s decision in moving forward with the HIA was incorrect is inconceivable for two reasons. The Castries North MP was fully aware of the economic details which surrounded the change of direction of the Allen Chastanet led UWP administration from the Public Private Partnership pursued by both Dr. Kenny D. Anthony and Philip J. Pierre SLP administrations.
The SLP government agreed to lease the terminal to a foreign company for thirty years and pay US $30 per passenger for that period whereas moving forward with Taiwan was US $25 per passenger for fifteen years. It does not take a genius to understand this reasoning. This Minister sat in Cabinet for five years and never criticized the Project. As a matter of fact, he endorsed the Funding mechanism employed by the former, United Workers Party administration. Today, the performance of the same Minister is under fire for his abysmal performance in the execution of the Millennium Highway Project by his Ministry. As a Minister in the UWP administration, he hand-picked an inexperienced Engineer to oversee the Project. The overseas financiers of the Project advised him that the project would not get off the ground with the hand-picked engineer based on her inexperience for a project of that magnitude. This misunderstanding delayed the project by several months based on his reluctance to cooperate and comply to the Funding Agency’s terms and conditions.
This impasse persisted even after he retained his position as the Minister responsible for Infrastructure in the SLP administration. Thus, the reason why the project has been floundering for two long years with no conceivable end in the immediate future. Evidently, the advice of the Financiers was justified given the status of the project today.
It is so sad to see long serving politicians remaining that incompetent at the expense of taxpayers, but it is also bothersome to note the lay back attitude of the Civil Society organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association etc and business persons on island remain totally silent as a group of politicians dismantle our economy to hurt one politician.
This futile exercise has cost the nation millions of dollars by indiscriminately foreclosing some six major projects which would have propelled the nation’s economy during this drought. Why would Taiwan bother to invest in any more projects like St Jude and the Hewanorra International Airport when their representatives witness the madness that transpired.
Finally, by the PM’s own disclosure, there is some $500 million in taxes which remain unpaid. Should the government not attempt to collect those funds instead of imposing more taxes similarly to the 2.5% tax recently placed on the backs of St Lucians?
IT IS NOT ALL “KUMBAYA” FOR ST LUCIA AT THIS POINT IN TIME.