John Peters

I am one who firmly believes that one should speak within their frame of competence, but I believe there are times when one has to express concern on matters of national importance. I listened to Mr. Richelieu, the lawyer for Hon. Mondesir, speaking of his concerns on the issue of jurisprudence. He made an important point that there is need to separate the law from the politics in this case. Law is based on precedent, a complete distinction from engineering, and while I have an intense interest in law, I can only be described as a ‘bush lawyer’. A ‘bush lawyer’ that will never understand why the law says that someone found with an illegal firearm should be punished the same as a man caught stealing a bunch of bananas. I will never understand why lawyers are keen to defend the rights of those who have brutally murdered innocent women and children and have never gone to a victim to...

I recently spoke with a medium sized contractor about how he is surviving at these times. He went on to tell me about the difficulties with the Bank as he was unable to service his loans and if something does not happen soon he may fold up. He said something that was also very interesting. He was making the point that the Government should assist those local contractors who have invested heavily in equipment by providing them with a first call on locally funded project as against ‘creating’ new contractors. There may be merit in his comments as those who have invested should be supported at this time of economic hardship. Undoubtedly, the Government has to move swiftly to prevent a collapse of the local construction sector. The GOSL has to face up to the fact that there is a serious problem with implementation of projects. This has nothing to do with which party is in power, but...