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RETAINING WALLS WITH TYRES

By in Print

By pure coincidence I read an article on the Government of St Lucia’s website which spoke of efforts of the SSDF to teach local tradesmen in the construction of retaining walls using scrap tyres. I found it heartening and disheartening, heartening because of its novelty and disheartening because the SSDF never saw it fit to engage the local Association of Professional Engineers in this project. Engineers from the Conseil Generale of Martinique in collaboration with the Saint Lucia Social Development Fund (SSDF) held presentations for tradesmen that demonstrated how to use scrap tires for slope reinforcement.. The Report said that SSDF Director Joachim Henry applauded the initiative and commented as follows: “Today the engineers will demonstrate to workers from the community how to attach the tires to construct a retaining wall. The French are interested in our approach and our...

MENTAL SLAVERY – THE MYTH

By in Print

Slavery can be defined as involuntary servitude to a dominating influence. When one therefore describes the present state of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora as being in mental slavery, the phrase has no meaning. It is a poor choice of words that has caused more destruction to our people. Marcus Garvey was wrong, Bob Marley was more wrong and all those who have repeated these unfortunate words have done more destruction to the advancement of our people. I refuse to accept that as we are approaching two centuries since Emancipation, as a people with a rich history of resistance and perseverance towards the most hideous crime ever committed by one race over another, that I am left in any form of mental slavery. Those who wish to embrace these words must read the history of the Brigands Wars. Mental slavery is a myth that has been perpetuated for far too long. One writer has concluded that...

THE SILVER ECONOMY

By in Print

In response to one of my articles, Mr. Francis Leonce was spurred to write a brilliant two part series on the agricultural sector. While I have known Mr. Leonce for many years on a casual basis, we never sat down for any length of time to speak. Some weeks ago this unforgettable moment occurred, and we sat for over an hour speaking at a Rituals Café. He recounted his experiences in the agricultural sector over the decades and left me totally stunned that such high quality research work was pursued in St Lucia and someone with such wealth of knowledge was not being used. Mr. Leone presented me with a gift at that meeting, which was a research paper entitled: THE EFFECT OF LOCAL CLIMATE AND SOILS FACTORS ON IRISH POTATO YIELDS IN ST LUCIA.  The document was based on research he did in 1966 to 1967 on looking at reducing the importation of Irish potato. Just the thought that almost 50...

POLITICAL ETHNICITY ?

By in Print

On Tuesday night I listened to a live stream of a political event in Trinidad, where the People’s National Movement was presenting twelve ( 12 ) candidates in the town of Arima. It was of interest to me, as it was in this famous town I was born. With elections within the next 6 weeks, the political temperature has been rising and undoubtedly the rhetoric has also soared. The United National Congress launched a campaign called ‘NORowley’ which is in essence a calculated smear campaign against the political leader of the PNM. I then wondered whether this political tribalism would ever end. With that thought, came an instantaneous mental response as to why was that term coined and used to describe Caribbean Politics, and it dawned on me that the descriptive word was rooted in racism. Whenever we hear ‘tribe’, the first thing that comes to mind is an African who is a cannibal, running...

POLITICAL ETHNICITY?

By in Print

On Tuesday night I listened to a live stream of a political event in Trinidad, where the People’s National Movement was presenting twelve ( 12 ) candidates in the town of Arima. It was of interest to me, as it was in this famous town I was born. With elections within the next 6 weeks, the political temperature has been rising and undoubtedly the rhetoric has also soared. The United National Congress launched a campaign called ‘NORowley’ which is in essence a calculated smear campaign against the political leader of the PNM. I then wondered whether this political tribalism would ever end. With that thought, came an instantaneous mental response as to why was that term coined and used to describe Caribbean Politics, and it dawned on me that the descriptive word was rooted in racism. Whenever we hear ‘tribe’, the first thing that comes to mind is an African who is a cannibal, running...

WASCO – ADHOSIM OR TRUISM PART 3

By in Print

Although I intended to do a two part series, the second shutdown of the John Compton Dam and the reasons proffered left me in utter bewilderment. WASCO has been aware of the growing siltation of the Dam for the last 21 years and only within the last four years has attempted to deal with the situation. WASCO has also been aware of the extremely poor condition of the raw water line for more than 10 years and has however to date not sought an approach to deal with this. For those who are unaware of the operation required to supply water to the North of the island, the following is a very simplistic explanation. When rain falls in the upper catchment of the Millet area, the runoff is collected within the dam. In essence they have blocked a valley and allowed this runoff to collect behind this structure. This raw water storage is then transferred to the Ciceron Water Treatment Facility...

WAS THE SPEAKER RIGHT?

By in Print

The recent incident in the House between Hon. Guy Joseph and the Speaker caught my attention in relation to the very interesting issue of Contract Law. The sub-plot should not be lost on the engineering fraternity as the Speaker placed his legal hat on and started a very interesting discourse on liability under the Civil Code. The legal prowess of Peter Foster is well known, and thus his comment in response to the Member of the House was based on his understanding of the Civil Code Article 1558. All contractors in Saint Lucia are of the opinion that the issuance of the Final Certificate after the Defect Liability/Notification Period relieves the contractor from all further liability of defects. In the specific matter, Hon. Guy Joseph was making the point that the recently awarded contract had an unusual clause that removed the defects notification period. It is important to clarify the...

WASCO – ADHOCISM OR TRUISM – PART 2

By in Print

At the conclusion of Part 1, the proposal outlined in the Budget Address 205-2006 were presented. The Minister of Finance went on further to expand on how this new strategy can be implemented and the following statement was made: ‘’Honourable Members will recall the debate and passage of the new Water & Sewerage Act, which will provide the platform for the quality of service and the protection and management of the resource base to attract private sector investment. In pursuit of this latter objective, the Government has decided to pursue a public-private sector partnership for WASCO that will permit the Government to remain on the Board of Directors as the protector of the public interest, but will also allow for the divestment of the majority shares of WASCO. We have chosen this option for the following three main reasons: Our experience with the privatization of LUCELEC; Current...

WASCO – ADHOCISM OR TRUISM – PART 1

By in Print

With WASCO’s announcement of the closure of the John Compton Dam and the resultant water shortage on Wednesday and Thursday, I pondered as to how we have reached this stage. Since 1994 after the passage of Tropical Storm Debbie, there were concerns on the siltation of the dam, some 20 years later we are still speaking about desilting. In my search to find this elusive truth, I decided to research the last nineteen budget speeches from 1997 to 2015, an onerous task indeed, but the thirst for the truth kept me going. Part 1 looks at the first nine years. The journey started in November 4th 1997 in the Supplementary Budget Address where the following was stated by the Minister of Finance: ‘’Having reviewed the situation, Government has decided to transform WASA into a corporate entity to enable it to become an effective self-financing business.. A new company will be registered under the...

THE COLLAPSE OF CARICOM

By in Print

It is said that history provides a window of insight to the present. Our experiment at regional integration through the organization named CARICOM, has in the minds of most citizens of the Caribbean been a failure. Heads of Government meet yearly, decisions are taken, commitments are given, and promises are broken. CARICOM is broken, and the earlier we accept that fact and begin a process of renewal, the better it will be for the Caribbean. I began to look at our first experiment called the West Indies Federation, to observe the historical issues related to its collapse. This creation of the Federation was driven more by the UK Government as against a rising of regional integration fervor among the West Indian populace. As it was for emancipation, it was a money matter. Coming out of World War 2, the British colonies of the Caribbean were now being seen as a financial burden, and thus...

DUE DILIGENCE

By in Print

The term Due Diligence has become a buzz word over the last few weeks as various government agencies have captured the words within their press releases dealing with the Lambirds Academy matter. However there is a legal definition which is as follows: “Due diligence is a measure of prudence, activity, or assiduity, as is properly to be expected from, and ordinarily exercised by, a reasonable and prudent person under the particular circumstances; not measured by any absolute standard but depends on the relative facts of the special case.” The operative words are prudence, a level of activity and assiduity or close attention to details. There is also no absolute standard as the particular circumstances will demand different strategies by the reasonable and prudent individual or entity engaged in the due diligence. I will invite anyone to go on the Lambirds website and see how...

CAN THE GLORY DAYS RETURN?

By in Print

This week I met a good friend of mine, Kerde Severin, whom I had not seen for quite some time. We bumped into each other at the Fruit and Vegetable section of the supermarket and the conversation started on our agricultural sector. Kerde was looking for some fruits and I also was desirous of having a healthy lunch. I recounted to him my frustration in getting local fruits and vegetables at the supermarket. There are times when the only tomatoes on the shelves are imported, and the only watermelon is imported, and the only pineapples are imported, and the only pumpkin is imported and there are no cucumbers and peppers. I have great difficulty buying a slice of imported watermelon, and the few times I have done so out of pure desperation to eat a fruit that I enjoy, have left me with such guilt that the sensation on the taste buds dissipates with the internal turmoil. I shared with him...

DREAM SPEECH (excerpt)

By in Print, Quotes

I have a dream of a day when we move away from the proclivity of judging the fruit by the flower, that we are not deceived by the flower of words, but judge by the fruit of actions.

— My Dream Speech for St Lucia

BUDGETARY TAUTOLOGY

By in Print

In my days at primary school, I was introduced to the word – tautology. The word has stuck with me ever since. The word is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as – ‘saying the same thing twice over in different words’. I am leaning to accept that we have a phenomenon called ‘budgetary tautology’ in Saint Lucia. If you were to read the Budget Addresses over the last 20 years, you will be surprised to see the series of repetitions contained in these presentations. This phenomenon speaks to the disjointed way we have pursued development and the need for a coherent and comprehensive approach going forward. We have been developing our country in ‘silos of budgetary cycles’, with one budget not being linked to the other. So you would hear the Minister of Finance speak of the plans of a Ministry in a Budget Address in one year and the objectives were not achieved in that year and then the...

MY DREAM SPEECH FOR ST LUCIA

By in Print

I have a dream that one day our nation of St Lucia will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “The Land, the People, the Light.” I have a dream that one day looking up to the rising hills of the Pitons, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave-owners now only separated by the politics of colour, will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day this politics of colour that has created a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of fairness, justice and peace. I have a dream that my two children will one day live in a nation which embraces this truth, that light will shine on this blessed land with the acceptance that all people must be judged by the content of their character. I have a dream today. It is alright to dream, it is alright to have a vision. So I...