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DUE DILIGENCE

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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...

BEAM OF REASON

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Within any society there will always be a recalcitrant minority whose sole intent and purpose is to thwart the development of a nation, these are those who believe that the weight of their loudness can cause maximum deflection to the beam of reason.

John Peters

CAN THE GLORY DAYS RETURN?

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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)

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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

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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...

ON WISDOM

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Wisdom is the fusion of creativity with knowledge, it is wisdom that shall distinguish you as the sons and daughters of God.

John Peters

MY DREAM SPEECH FOR ST LUCIA

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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...

ON OUR SIGNIFICANCE

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The degree of significance is shown by the level of accuracy and precision. How far you go with the measurement shows the level of significance. When God says that the very hair on your head is numbered, he was saying to us about our significance. We are precious to Him, indeed very precious, made for his pleasure.

John Peters

SLAVERY AND CHRISTIANITY IN SAINT LUCIA

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As my fascination with the history of Saint Lucia continues, I have been researching the relationship of slavery and Christianity. It is still inconceivable that the Christian Church as expressed in Protestant and Catholic format never raised their voices against this evil commerce of slavery. Even Bartholomew De Las Casas, which may have been historically viewed as a small spark, advocated for the use of African slaves instead of Native Indians. The Christian Church leaders in the most evil distortion of the Bible, sought to use passages of scripture to provide the soothing of the consciences of the elite that the practice of slavery was acceptable in the sight of God. Obviously, the African slaves saw this travesty of the truth and were never attracted to Christianity in the pre-emancipation period. However after the emancipation there was a dramatic change. In referencing the book –...

CARIBBEAN COURT OF JUSTICE – TIME FOR SAINT LUCIA

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On Wednesday March 6th 1901 an editorial in the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper carried a commentary on the need for the Caribbean to have its own Final Appellate Court. One hundred and fourteen years on we still have those sucking at the breasts of a colonial mother, longing to hold on to a Privy Council that is slapping the child and saying it is time to be weaned. April 16th 2015 marked the 10th Anniversary of the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice, an institution that every true Caribbean citizen should be proud of. The journey started in 1970 at the Sixth Meeting of the Heads of Government of Commonwealth Caribbean Countries, where a Jamaican delegation tabled a proposal for the establishment of a Regional Court of Appeal. In 1971 there was a meeting of the Committee of Attorney General and a draft report on the Establishment of a regional court was issued. It took twenty...

CAN GOV’T SPENDING SAVE US?

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There is the general belief that Government spending can create economic growth in Saint Lucia, and in support of that view one will hear the commentary on the street that ‘things slow’ because the Government is not spending. I read a research paper from the Central Bank of Barbados entitled: Government Expenditure and Economic Growth in a Small Open Economy – A Disaggregated Approach written by Justin Carter, Roland Craigwell and Shane Lowe. I would safely assume that there are similarities between the economy of Barbados and Saint Lucia such that the conclusions drawn from the research can be applicable. The shocking conclusions were as follows: Government expenditure in Health and Social Programmes has little influence on per capita economic growth. Government expenditure on Education has a significant negative impact on economic growth The findings go contrary to traditional...

IS OWEN ARTHUR RIGHT?

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The significant strides we have all observed in Singapore must always be placed in the context of the political systems that governed the rule of Lee Kuan Yew. It was in essence a one party state, and the reforms that he was able to push through could not happen in the two party politics of the Caribbean. Lee Kuan Yew would have been ousted by his own colleagues within three years, if he was in the Caribbean, and even if he lasted his first term in office, he would have lost the next election. This is the harsh reality of our political systems. The Caribbean Politician has to say things he knows are not true, what we call lies, but more appropriately called ‘political expansion of thought’,  in order to survive. He has to compromise because a certain person is a large financier of the party and without his support he is finished, it is called political expediency. He has to tolerate...

ON THOUGHTS, WORDS AND ACTIONS

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A thought is a seed, and a spoken word becomes a flower, and an action becomes the fruit.

John Peters

UNEMPLOYMENT – A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

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John N. Turner a Canadian lawyer and a former Attorney General of Canada said the following in a speech to the Canadian Bar Association in December 1969: ‘Substantive and procedural law benefits and protects landlords over tenants, creditors over debtors, lenders over borrowers, and the poor are seldom the favored parties’. Until we can deal effectively with the high levels of unemployment among our young adults, we will soon have a social disaster on our hands. No country can continue with 50% unemployment among young adults, and it is thus imperative that there is a focused and honest conversation within the society to develop strategies to deal with this crisis. The answers are not traditional. One firmly believes that there is much to gain from looking at our history, and thus I sought to do the research on unemployment from a historical perspective. Some months ago, I was...

ON VISION

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If you take the palm of your hand and place it over your eyes it will block your entire vision, however as you move your hand away you will begin to see and at a very far distance there is little effect on your vision. Move away from those who may block your vision and cause you not to see and stumble.

John Peters