04 LOCAL
JUNE 30, 2018 THE STAR
www.stluciastar.com
IS THE GOVERNMENT AFRAID OF KENNY ANTHONY’S WHIRLWIND? Joshua St. Aimee
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ne of the many promises by a campaigning Allen Chastanet in 2016 was to get to the bottom of the 17-year old Grynberg issue, centred on a 2000 controversial agreement between the Colorado oilman Jack Grynberg and then prime minister Kenny Anthony. The arrangement remained a secret for nine years and to this day remains, to quote current prime minister Allen Chastanet, “surrounded by suffocating smoke”. In a related statement he delivered in parliament on April 3 this year, Chastanet said: “We are determined to deliver on all our election pledges, regardless of impediments deliberately put in our way. Our country was sick and dying of business as usual; we need to put an end to
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it . . . or die trying!” Referencing a number of controversial subjects, the prime minister went on: “I repeat my party’s election pledge to get to the bottom of a number of suspicious undertakings by our predecessors. The undertakings were neither transparent nor accounted for. We must clear the suffocating smoke that conceals the truth about Mr. Walid Juffali, Robert Lindquist, St. Jude Hospital, the infamous minister’s account and Grynberg.” This was the reaction of the former prime minister Kenny Anthony a day following Chastanet’s statement: “It is clear that his actions are motivated by revenge, malice, spite and ill-will . . . I have been through persecution before. He himself must never come to the altar of justice with unclean hands and mind.”
Will Allen Chastanet keep his election promise to get to the bottom of the Grynberg mess or is he too afraid of Kenny Anthony’s threatened “whirlwind”?
Citing Chastanet’s announced smoke-clearing undertaking, Anthony threatened: “Don’t do it, or you’ll pay the price.” His forefinger indicating the seated prime minister, Anthony said:
“When he embarks on whatever action he embarks, I will make sure that he reaps the whirlwind for his actions!” Nearly four months later, the prime minister has said not a word, not a word, not a
word on the smoke-clearing expeditions. On June 18, questioned on the matter by this reporter, Mr. Guy Joseph, for a change, sounded heavy-tongued. “I stand by what I’ve already said publicly,” he said. “Dr. Kenny Anthony has refused after all these years to answer any questions on the Grynberg matter. How can it be that a prime minister can go into an agreement to lease our seabed to an entity, and not be accountable to the country? I want to know: Why are we still paying to defend and reclaim the seabed in Saint Lucia?” “But isn’t it up to the government to investigate how that was possible?” I asked. He responded: “There are certain things government can do, and there are certain things government cannot do.” Pressed further for a more meaningful answer, the
minister said: “But how can you go into the man’s mind as the government and find out why he did what he did? Everyone knows the governor general is the only one under our Minerals Act authorized to issue exploration. And we know on good authority that the governor general knew absolutely nothing about the Grynberg transaction.” All of which suggests there is no investigation in progress, so far as Grynberg is concerned. Readers are free to speculate about what is preventing the prime minister from keeping the particular promise that contributed to his party’s election in 2016. Could it be he is wary of Kenny Anthony’s “whirlwind”? Meanwhile the government continues to spend millions for the services of defence lawyers in the breach of contract suit brought by Jack Grynberg in 2011.
Roofing demolition project set for the George Odlum Stadium
he Government of Saint Lucia has engaged the services of a local contractor to commence the removal of the fiberglass roofing at George Odlum Stadium. The fibreglass sheeting has been severely compromised by the elements and poses an immediate hazard to both staff and clients of St. Jude Hospital. A bird’s-eye view of the George Odlum Stadium reveals more clearly the threat posed by the fibreglass roofing on the facility. Gaping holes are clearly visible compromising the integrity of the structure. Loose particles of fibreglass are already an issue at the facility. This week management and staff of St. Jude Hospital met with the contractor, Brice and Company Ltd and the Consultant Engineer on the project, Norman St. Ville. St. Ville explained: “The reason we’re discussing this with the staff is because we want their inputs because the
contractors are here and they need to know the concerns of the staff so that they can put it into their programme and make sure the way they take off the roof sheeting will be in consideration of the staff concerns.” St. Ville added that the contract is guided by the British standard for demolition agreed to for the project. He said: “So within that specification the contractor is required to understand where he is working, what he is doing and he has to understand the processes that take place. The work must go on while the hospital remains functional. No matter what the dangers of the site, he has to put it into consideration within his programme and he has to do that safely and make sure that he does not compromise anyone or anything that goes on, even the process for all the patients and staff of this facility.” Chief Executive Officer at St. Jude Hospital, Verna Charles,
A bird’s-eye view of the compromised fibreglass roofing that shelters the St. Jude Hospital staff and patients.
said staff expressed concerns about their safety during the demolition process. “What has been explained to the staff is there will be dialogue throughout the entire project with the contractor and the Ministry of Economic Development. We are
aware that it is fibreglass material. We have conducted a study and also we will be putting in place measures for demarcation for redirecting our traffic so there will be diversion of both human and vehicular traffic,” said Charles.
She added that the contractors have agreed to conduct most of the operations at night when there is a reduction in both human and vehicular traffic. Charles continued, “So anything which will tamper or
interfere with operations, we will be communicating with our contractors to be able to change the scope of the project to ensure that staff, patients and anyone accessing the compound is safe.” The consultant engineer stressed that the roof is already compromised and is best brought down in a structured operation. He said once the roof comes down it will set a series of events into motion. “But once the fibreglass sheets come off it means the process of removing the rest of the roof must follow in a sequence. It must follow. So the moving of the hospital from this facility, it must happen. Once this sheeting comes off, that’s it, the sequence of events, you would say, has started. So the hospital must be taken off from this stadium in the shortest possible time.” The project is expected to be completed within the next three months.
