STAR Monthly Review - May 2021

MAY 31, 2021

MONTHLY REVIEW

www.stluciastar.com

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IMPACS Kenny’s National Security Minister:

‘ WEAK PM BENT UNDER

’ STATE DEPARTMENT HEAT!

Arnold Joseph’s Family Continues to seek Justice!

Columban Sextius longs for the day when someone will be held accountable for his son’s death.

Joshua St. Aimee

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MAY 31, 2021

THE STAR

olding a bouquet of flowers in each hand, Columban Sextius walks towards the intersection of Chaussee and La Pansee roads. His eyes are fixed on the memorial established in memory of his late son, Arnold Joseph. Sextius’ May 22 visit to the area coincided with the twoyear anniversary of the teenager’s death at the hands of the police. The 17-yearold, described as promising by his former home-room teacher, lost his life after police opened fire on what they described only as a “suspicious vehicle.”

Also gathered at the site to pay their respects were a handful of friends and family members. Dressed mainly in red and white, they lit candles and let loose two dove shaped, helium-filled balloons into the air. Such activities have become a frequent practice for the family as they continue to cry out for justice two years after their son was gunned down by cops.

“I feel neglected and let down,” the grieving father later told the STAR, bemoaning what he says is a lack of professionalism by the powers that be.

“Honestly, I feel betrayed by the people who were supposed to serve and protect us. Investigating officer, Commissioner of Police, nobody will give us a call unless we reach out to them, which I find is very disrespectful and unprofessional.”

Sextius says he took offence to a recent statement by National Security Minister Hermangild Francis. Addressing the crime problem back in March, Francis had urged the police to adopt an assertive approach. In noting that he will stand by the police once they act in the correct way, the minister added: “I’ve said to the police, I want to see you harassing these fellers.

You harass them in such a way that they go to their lawyers. That’s what a police officer does, part of your job is to go to court. We have an Attorney General who will take care of the cases for you.”

He continued: “And if they convict you, it’s the state that’s going to pay. The money’s not coming from you; the money’s going to come from the state’s pocket. So do not be afraid to challenge people, do not be afraid to have the road blocks, do not be afraid to, whenever you see fellers stand up in a corner idly by, to go to them.”

“What message are you sending?”

Sextius asked. “Harass them until they run to their lawyers and don’t worry, the Attorney General is there, the government will pay, not them? That means go and violate their rights. If they have to run to their lawyers that means their rights have been violated. So with that kind of message what are you sending your officers out there to do? Violate people’s rights and my tax money will pay for it.”

Sextius indicated that the mourning process has not been easy especially around Arnold’s birthday and the Christmas season. “I was away from him for some years so we would mostly see each other occasionally so that is helping me a bit.

Most of the time it feels like I’m still away, hoping that we’ll see again,” he said. “My last breakdown, I just stayed home. I just started crying and I could not stop. So it’s not always easy but thank God for work, trying to keep myself busy at work. That helps me get over it a little.”

The last word from the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force on this matter was that exhibits from the scene were due for testing. To date, police have laid no charges in relation to the 9mm firearm they announced was recovered at the scene of the fatal incident.

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MAY 31, 2021

THE STAR

03

Actions Have Always Spoken Louder Than Words

by Majorie Ramborhose

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t the Budget Debate back in March, Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, in another attempt to put Saint Lucia’s COVID-19 crisis in context, said: “Globally more than 120 million persons have contracted the virus and approximately 2.66 million deaths have been recorded as of March 14, 2021. Domestically, just over 4,000 cases have been recorded, with just over 50 COVID-19 related deaths as of March 14, 2021.”

No sooner had the words escaped the prime minister’s lips than the Red Zone’s word twisters went to work at what they are best known for. “I was offended when the Prime Minister said just 4000 cases and just 55 deaths,” said one opposition MP. Within minutes, that false concern had been reproduced for consumption and distribution by the so-called computer warriors of the Red Zone. At the heart of the propaganda was that “Chastanet does not put people first. He doesn’t care if they die. He’s uncaring.”

That was hardly the first time Chastanet’s words were twisted to fit a calculatedly destructive narrative. When he took a retaliatory shot at his political opponents via the Chinese “Let the jackasses bray,” the usual propagandists claimed the prime minister had labeled all Saint Lucians jackasses—as if regular citizens were incapable of appreciating a long established figure of speech for what it is.

Then there was the time they tried to make the prime minister into Trumpian comedian at the expense of the MP for Castries East, who sometimes stutters.

The truth is the prime minister is well acquainted with speech difficulties, he being himself slightly dyslexic. Of course, in the meantime his opposition never misses an opportunity to make fun of the prime minister’s own slip-ups.

Remember the single mothers nonstarter? “What’s the root cause of crime?” Chastanet once dared to ask, in response to a question about the subject.

“One of the main ones is the number of young girls under 18 who are having children with different men, following the pattern of their mothers and their grandmothers.”

Long before Chastanet entered politics a well-loved MP had warned his constituents about becoming “baby factories.” The particular minister, now deceased, was made into a monster by the day’s Red Zoners, never mind he had spoken nothing but the truth. Indeed, what Romanus Lansquot said so many years

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Prime Minister Allen Chastanet.

ago is equally true today. And most rightthinking citizens know it. But that would not stop the prime minister’s critics for life from attempting to put into his mouth words he never uttered. Neither did he attack single mothers. If on the occasion he left room for constructive criticism, in was in his neglecting to mention the social problems contributed by runaway fathers.

Tragically, some are more concerned about the messenger than with his message. And so the litany of out of context Chastanet-isms continues. No opportunity to stamp him “not one of us” by virtue of his skin tone is missed. It’s as if anyone who does not support the anti-Chastanet, often racist references, is himself or herself a traitor. But the problem with this Labour painted portrait is that Saint Lucia elected Allen Chastanet and his team in 2016. Yes, the majority of us elected Allen Michael Chastanet to run the affairs of our country. Just as we had elected Kenny Anthony with a 16-1 majority in 1997, despite he shares with Chastanet a similar familial blood mix. It may be a good time to remind ourselves of Proverbs 23:7: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Also keep in mind Marcus Aurelius, who advised: “We become what we think about!”

Newly launched National Green Party promises 6000 Cannabis Jobs and Constitutional Reform!

O ver a decade ago Lucian Greens made its debut on the ballot paper. Fielding three candidates, the party mustered less than 20 votes. With a “fresh, more collective force and determined vision” the party has rebranded itself as the National Green Party (NGP) and is eyeing the upcoming general election. An official launch was held at the party’s headquarters in Canaries on May 23.

The NGP is launching on the eve of an election, so members have hit the ground running.

In various communities around the island green flags are on display bearing the NGP’s symbol—a cow—representative of “nature, life and food security.”

Activists Andre de Caires and Aaron Alexander—the NGP’s political and deputy political leaders, respectively— are fronting the charge of the party’s “futuristic agenda and ideology.”

Their campaign mantra: “We are not just another political party, we are an alternative to the status quo of self-serving politicians.” In his presentation, de Caries noted that the party is in support of decentralized governance—whereby local elections for mayors and council leaders will be held. Additionally, a successful candidate is not guaranteed a ministerial post but will instead “stay in their communities and represent the people that have elected them.”

The party intends to contest all seats but thus far, only five potential candidates have been identified. “What we have done is created a platform for people who want to serve this country to come forward,” de Caires explained. “So, myself and the people who have said we would go up for seats are ready to step aside, and open up our seats for people more suited for that particular position. So we are encouraging people to come forward.”

He reiterated: “I don’t intend to be prime minister at all! I am willing to step aside. We are looking for a suitable political leader and district representatives who will suit their community in a better capacity than the ones we have now.”

He outlined food security as the party’s major policy. Areas of focus include embarking on cannabis law reform, reducing the food import bill, building up climate change mitigation structures and increasing the water storage capacity of the island. He pledged that constitutional reform will be tackled—stressing that the two established parties have failed to deal with this issue. Setting a fix date for elections, introducing term limits for prime ministers and removing Queen Elizabeth II as Saint Lucia’s head of state, were specifically highlighted.

Some of the other plans mentioned include: the commissioning of St. Jude Hospital; the introduction of universal daycare; affordable housing; providing the National Trust with a $1 million subvention; creation of recreational areas (skateboard parks, bmx tracks); and establishing a yachting marina in the South. Cannabis will play an integral role for the Green Party. “We’ll be able to produce 6000 jobs in the medical cannabis industry,” he said. “This would also give the government coffers at least $50 million a year, and with that money we’ll be able to do many of the projects that we intend to roll out during our term.”

The party is banking on the cannabis industry to fund most of its planned projects. De Caires pointed out that the current administration has

received reports from Malaysian consultants PEMANDU and the Cannabis Commission regarding the positives of a cannabis industry.

“Both reports suggest that the government could make $50-80 million a year in taxes and license fees if the

cannabis industry is constructed in the way that we designed it,” he said. The party invited interested citizens to learn more about its policies by visiting their website at www.ngp.lc.

-JSA

MAY 31, 2021

THE STAR

05

Delinquents Are People Too!

by Rick Wayne

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t the juvenile delinquency discussion sponsored by the St. Lucia Jaycees and housed at the Castries town hall before an audience of about three hundred, none older than 20, Father Reginald John was the first to speak. Attired in his customary neck to toe black cassock, he said: “I will say what I have to say and then I must leave. I left my boys cooking for me at the Morne and if I leave them for too long on their own they might burn down the house.”

Possibly the most controversial priest the island had ever known, Choiseulborn Father John went on: “I hope all this talking we’ve been doing will stop. I don’t want to be part of this ritual of talktalk-talk with no follow-up action. These discussions we keep having then forget once we’ve stepped out the door, it’s got to stop. No more talk without action.” Three hundred pairs of hands, mainly male, came together in boisterous agreement.

Father John revealed he had recently been booted out of the Castries presbytery after he insisted on permitting his boys to stay at the premises without permission from his superiors.

“Delinquents are people,” he shouted at his town hall audience, bringing his clenched right hand down hard on the table in front of him. “They must be treated as human. I told those priests that if cats and dogs can stay in peace at the presbytery, then so can my boys.”

Not only had he and his boys been kicked out to the streets, he said, but he had also been denied a salary. “I survive thanks to handouts from friends,” he said, a wry smile revealing teeth in dire need of dental rescue. “I share whatever I get with my boys. Sometimes someone will give me five dollars to say a mass or something, and that way we are able to eat.”

Earlier he had warned his audience, including four or five well known much older church ladies in attendance, that he had never been afraid of words. Still they were unprepared when he said: “My boys are not angels. Just the other day I caught two of them fighting. I came between them and the one with the knife said to the other, ‘Man, I go fuck you up.’ Just like that. ‘I go fuck you up!’ These children have never known love. How can they be expected to show toward one another what they’ve never themselves experienced?”

He turned again to his fellow men of the cloth: “Now is not the time to be telling

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Father Reginald John and his boys take a break from gardening to pose for the camera.

the poor unfortunates, ex-cons without food, shelter or friends, that they should pray for help. These people need more than prayers. They need assistance. And they need it now, however small. Enough nice words. They need action!”

At the end of his time at the podium Father John did not take a seat. He said he was sorry he could not stay until question time. “Remaining here with you to answer questions would mean leaving my children cooking on their own. I must get back to them.” And with that he headed out the door. Two days later I made my way to Goodlands where I’d been told Father John shared a house with his wards. As I drove slowly around the indicated area I came upon eight young men, none older than sixteen, all hard at work with various gardening tools. From the roadside, I caught their attention. “Can you tell me where I might find Father John’s house?”

One of them, barely taller than his pitchfork, pointed directly ahead to a house several yards from where I had parked my Suzuki: “He up there.” I was about to get behind the wheel when a familiar voice reached me. “Helloooo, hellooo!”

I asked if I could have a word and Father John said: “Yes, yes of course. Stay where you are while I get my van. I was on

my way to town. But we can talk for a bit.”

Minutes later, standing at the back and front of our respective parked vehicles, I asked whether he was kidding when he said he’d been evicted.

“Oh, no no,” he chuckled. “It’s quite true what I said. “The bishop told me it might be better for the boys if we found our own place. A kind soul is allowing us to say in this house while the owner, his relative, is overseas. I don’t know for how long. As you can see, he’s also allowed us to plant our own food here. The boys are planting yams and dasheen today.”

He giggled shyly like a schoolboy whose teacher had overheard him telling a dirty joke. I gathered that although it was Bishop Webster who’d actually evicted him, it was Father Catty that Father John held responsible.

“Catty never liked me and my boys,” he said, eyes on his plastic sandals.

“Castries is his parish, so whatever Catty wants the bishop will deliver. And what he wanted this time was, well, here we are.”

Another giggling fit followed.

He said he’d also been barred from saying mass or officiating at funerals and the like in Castries, “so I’ve lost the two hundred dollars or so I used to earn from them.” The beat-up van he

was now leaning on was a gift from the government but he paid out of his pocket for its maintenance. A man from Bexon had offered him land so his boys might grow their own food.

Alas, there was also bad news: he would soon have to give his boys over to the government. He had recently received a letter from the social affairs ministry notifying him that “the building that once housed the Massade Industrial School is being renovated to accommodate not only convicted delinquents but also young boys obviously in need of love and care.”

There seems no end in sight for the on-going priests’ war. My efforts at contacting Father Catty for a useful comment proved futile. A female worker at the presbytery had “absolutely no idea where he might be found or when he would return.”

Echoing in my head as I write is the voice of Father John shortly before we said our good-byes at Goodlands: “Please don’t write all I said at the town hall the other day. A story you wrote about me some time ago, although you meant well, er, let’s just say I’m still paying for my frankness.”

Editor’s Note: This article was first published in 1975.

Artist claims work ‘prostituted’ for politics, vows legal action!

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A disturbed Linus Modeste has vowed legal action against those who abused his work and his constitutional rights.

inus Modeste is not a happy camper. The singer, Popularly known as LM Stone, the singer-musician-songwriter is crying foul after his music video was modified for “political purposes” without his consent.

Released on January 21, his song ‘I Can’t Breathe’ was inspired by the circumstances of George Floyd’s death and race relations in the United States and United Kingdom. An edited version of the artist’s music video began making the rounds on social media in May. It features a doctored image of Prime Minister Allen Chastanet choking a humanized map of Saint Lucia. The production is headed: “Lucia can’t breathe.”

“I’m not happy,” said Stone during an appearance on the TV show TALK, hosted by Rick Wayne. “I am unhappy because my video was prostituted and is

being used for a purposes I never intended, without my consent.

Somebody called and told me about it and I’m quite disturbed. I feel so disappointed.”

Stone claimed his rights had been violated. The singer revealed that the original video was produced by his son and filmed near his home in Vieux Fort. He recalled being in a state of shock after fans sent him the politicized version. The singer told Wayne that he is registered with the Eastern Caribbean Collective Organization for Music Rights as well as US-based music distributor CD Baby.

He went on: “Music is meant as medicine for the soul. I have a pretty good idea who did it. My friends told me who sent it to them. I know who it is. I’m going to have to take legal action because it’s not only just about the song. My video had its own message.”

MAY 31, 2021

THE STAR

07

This is how democracy dies

by Anthony Antoine

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here’s a story circulating on social media platforms claiming that the Prime Minister has sought the cover of the US and the OAS for him to delay the calling of general elections.

My initial reaction to that story was one of incredulity, and so I scoffed at it. I dismissed it notwithstanding that I previously heard the PM’s father, during an appearance on a talk show, call for the delaying of elections beyond October, so that his son could recover “lost ground” due to the COVID pandemic.

I then read another story wherein the PM suggested that elections should or could be delayed until herd immunity is achieved. Whilst the suggestion is equally laughable, it nonetheless caused all my antennae and the hackles on my back to be raised, for I was immediately reminded of the saying: “When someone shows you their colour the first time believe them.”

From inception, this administration has shown us their colour or their governing philosophy. On July 12, 2016, when a reporter asked Allen Chastanet why the opening of Parliament was more than 30 days after the election, contrary to what was specified in the Constitution, his response was a clear indication of how he would manage the affairs and decision making of the State. His response was that there were no specified penalties for going beyond the 30-day requirement specified in the Constitution.

Parliament opened on 12 July, 2016 and, consistent with the Constitutional requirements, a Deputy Speaker was elected. At the Swearing-in Ceremony for Cabinet members, held a few weeks prior, Sarah Flood-Beaubrun was not swornin, but held in reserve so she could be appointed Deputy Speaker, allowing the administration to fulfill the constitutional requirements for the proper opening and functioning of Parliament. Little did the unsuspecting public realize Chastanet was again about to violate the spirit of the very Constitution he had sworn to uphold and protect.

On the 13th July 2016, the day following the opening of Parliament, Allen Chastanet facilitated the resignation of Sarah Flood Beaubrun as Deputy Speaker and sought her appointment to his Cabinet.

He sought a loophole to exploit, using the logic that the Constitution did not state that the majority party was obligated to appoint the Deputy Speaker as long as such was not convenient to them. So for nearly its entire duration, this Parliament has been operating without a Deputy Speaker, if not contrary to the letter of the Constitution, certainly contrary to its spirit. Thus if there is no penalty for his action, Allen Chastanet will do whatever he wants, conventions or the concerns of others be damned.

On more than one occasion, Allen

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The issue of parliament without a deputy speaker continues to occupy some minds.

Now before the court, the hope is the matter will soon be settled once and for all.

(Pictured House Speaker Andy Daniel)

Chastanet told members of the Opposition, that despite being elected to Parliament, they had no right or had lost their right to speak on issues and thus he was going to disregard their concerns. His surrogates took their cue from him. Anytime a Saint Lucian raised any concern or attempted to critique the policy or action of the government the surrogates, like hyenas, went on the attack attempting to silence or delegitimize those critical voices. Many non-elected persons and supporters of the governing party were anxious to let the public know who is “all-in” and who is not.

History has already warned us.

The French philosopher, Charles-Louis Montesquieu, in a 1748 publication, ‘The Spirit of Laws,’ argued: “The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous

to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.” We need to heed his warning.

The aforementioned instances are not the only examples that can be provided about the Prime Minister’s attitude. They have been so frequent that it seems the public has become inured and his misconduct is met with a collective shrug.

Chastanet is counting on public passivity as his secret weapon to pursue agendas, many of which are inimical to the national wellbeing.

Some recent transfers, promotions and appointments in the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force do not ease my anxiety. This unease should only be heightened when one remembers the nonchalance and flimsy excuses provided for the dismissal

of the Attorney General and the Cabinet Secretary, as well as other Permanent Secretaries.

The current SOE gives the Prime Minister great powers and prescribes no penalties to him for mishandling them. Thus he’s aware that he has great latitude to do as he pleases. Many of us enjoy and maybe applying Patrice Roberts’ tune “Carry-On” but we should note that this is how democracies die—not in darkness but in full view of a public that couldn’t care less. Even though the people dance “carry on” I shall point the political directorate to Bunji Garlin’s tune “In the Struggle” where he asks: “You think this come with a free pass?”

Be warned!

Some Things Are Better Left Buried!

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Especially in a nation ruled by fear many have decided it’s best to keep to yourself what you know that others know you know!

ou can change party colors as if you were a political chameleon. No sweat. But even a chameleon cannot change the fact that it is a chameleon. Two or three weeks ago a local mindbender sought to persuade his TV audience he was not nearly as evil as some would paint him.

He identified, well, better to say he offered a tiny head shot of a man few viewers would have recognized. The picture might easily have been pulled from the Internet. Nevertheless the TV presenter described him as a native, a habitual criminal and a liar who went around telling stories about him that were altogether without merit. For instance, that the TV presenter was involved in at least three homicides, one of the victims well known to the populace, at least since he was brutally dispatched.

The talking head emphasized he had never met any of the individuals for whose sudden demise the criminal-liar had held him responsible. He considered himself a God-fearing Christian, he said, and what God-fearing Christian would dream of taking another man’s life?

Doubtless many on Facebook and elsewhere are wondering why the falsely accused had permitted his hard-earned reputation to be sullied in the extreme without appropriate retaliation. Of course I have no way of knowing whether he has indeed filed a lawsuit. After all, it’s no secret how slowly the Saint Lucian wheels of justice turn. Then again, who can say for certain the criminal fabricator had not paid for his indiscretion?

Some things are better left buried!

---RW

St. Lucian, and Proud.

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MAY 31, 2021

THE STAR

09

Chicot to serve another term as PWA Prez

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ollowing months of delay brought about by COVID and a slow nomination process, the Police Welfare Association held its Branch Board and Central Committee elections in May. Travis Chicot will serve his second term as president of the bargaining organization.

His team —which will serve from 20212025—comprises Azariah Francois, vice president; Ann Joseph, secretary; Mario Chciot, assistant secretary; Siana Gaston; treasurer; Callix Xavier, assistant treasurer; Stanislas Albert, PRO and Alex Morgan, assistant PRO. Last November Chicot announced that he would not be seeking re-election. In an interview with the STAR, he explained that having served one term he felt he should make way for other officers to make their contribution. However, the nomination process moved at snail pace with few officers throwing their hat in the ring.

“As I’ve said before circumstances change, a lot of things happen and

members felt that it was a bit too premature to exit the leadership of the association,” Chicot told the STAR on May 18. “Members, as we saw, reaffirmed their confidence in the leadership of Travis Chicot.” He also credited members for selecting a good team that he believes is well placed to represent police officers in Saint Lucia. He noted that these are trying times, with officers operating under stress, long-working hours, not to mention COVID-19. Officers, he says, have had to endure the test of times. “As a newly elected executive, we will continue to advocate for better working conditions and working hours, and we will continue to advocate for a number of policy changes for the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF),” said Chicot.

He also identified the revision of the Police Act as an area of focus. Of particular concern: “We want to revise our legislation pertaining to our Special Police Constables. We want to look at the police

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MAY 31, 2021

THE STAR

Newly re-elected president of the PWA Travis Chicot hopes that his second term will bring significant change.

and non-lethal weapons which seems to be a serious matter of advocacy.”

Regarding SPCs, Chicot maintains that this grouping has been “marginalized and not recognized for its gigantic contribution” to the existence of the RSLPF. The organization is concerned that SPCs “with ten-plus years of service being given six months appointment periods. How shameful that we treat persons who have a natural expectation to being permanent as if their service were not important. We must ensure that the rights of our SPCs are respected and must at no time be trampled upon.”

The PWA executive, Chicot says, has a huge mandate and will ensure the best is obtained for members. One of the executive’s immediate tasks is centered on salaries. In a May 6, 2021 memo issued to members Chicot revealed that the PWA was in receipt of correspondence from the Department of Public Service, in which the organization was invited to meet with a committee to discuss “deferment

of salaries for the last two triennium 2020/2021 and 2021/2022.” That meeting was held on May 10 and at least four others are scheduled for later dates. The president noted that it is currently not a negotiation period , but says that the PWA will will listen as the Committee seeks to address the financial position of the country.

“We are going to listen, we are going to engage and we are going to speak with the Trade Union Federation, to collectively approach this situation as we believe in making the best decision for members and for country,” Chicot said. “We believe in getting all the information before we can make a decision. We will not be anxious in anything but rather we will wait and make a good decision that will benefit every member and the country. But we are not making any decision now until all the facts and all the positions of the employer are presented.”

-JSA

Small Business Survival in a COVID-19 Environment

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any small business owners face not only the day-to-day stresses of living through a global pandemic but also the struggles of managing their operations. Many are facing the reality of maintaining health and safety standards, managing customers within the COVID-19 protocols and undergoing the added expense of restructuring their premises to be COVID-compliant, all while facing declining revenues.

However, not ot all small businesses are similarly impacted. There are those that do not rely on customer foot traffic, or are able to seamlessly transition from in-person services to digital services, for example retailers, that can sell goods online. These businesses by design face less challenges in coping and adapting as compared to other service-oriented counterparts such as restaurants, barbershops, nail salons and others.

Small businesses are adapting daily to the new circumstances. Many have become especially creative over the past few months by offering delivery service, curbside pickup, grab and go and virtual consultations.

It has been an incredibly hard time, as no one has been spared from the pandemic and not every business has the capacity—or is financially capable—to transition.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about major changes for our small businesses, and business owners have been faced with many uncertainties. That being said, it has also brought about many opportunities for those who have been thrusted into the world of entrepreneurship to capitalize on opportunities or as a means of survival in these trying times. Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) now have greater opportunities to access guaranteed loans including start up financing, funds for business expansion and access to working capital. These new offerings are available through the continued partnership with Bank of Saint Lucia and the Eastern Caribbean Partial Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECPCGC).

The partnership was originally launched in 2020, in response to the challenges being faced by MSMEs in light of the ongoing impact of COVID-19.

Access to credit has for many years, been a major impediment for MSMEs, some of whom often struggle to meet the security requirements for the loan. The classic guarantee loan facility avails qualifying MSMEs who have been in operation for at least 2 years - up to 75% of the collateral required to access credit of up to EC$300,000.

In light of the changing

circumstances, the two new offerings were developed to ensure a broader pool of MSMEs could qualify for the guaranteed facility. The startup fund is designed for new MSMEs who have been in operation for at least three months with up to 80% guaranteed collateral on loans up to EC$100,000.00. The working capital loan guarantee affords qualifying MSMEs the

opportunity to benefit from the support of working capital of up to EC$200,000.00 to tide them over during the uncertain period until business gets back to normal. The classic programme offers support up to EC$300,000.00 and up to 75% collateral guaranteed for qualifying customers.

Own a small business? Just some food for thought.

MAY 31, 2021

THE STAR

11

Former Security Minister Comme

Prime Minister Wa

by Rick Wayne

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alixte George—not to be confused with a similarly named Red Zone-TV fixture and predictable opposer of all things not star-crossed —has long been considered a take no prisoners straight shooter. With Kenny Anthony, Philip J. Pierre, Leo Clarke, Lawson Calderon and other coconspirators, he had in 1996 helped snatch from Julian Hunte’s “dictatorial” grasp the perceived comatose St. Lucia Labour Party.

Together they had vivified its public image and renamed it “New Labour” shortly before grabbing control of all but one of the 17 seats in the island’s parliament.

As leader of government business in the Senate, as well as communications minister, Calixte George had been a major mover and shaker in the government’s historic contract negotiations with Cable & Wireless. He also had served as National Security Minister, responsible for the ever bewitched, bothered and bewildered St. Lucia Police Force.

In more recent times George had turned from partisan politics to concentrate instead on other aspirations. In 2020 he published a well-received weighty tome on the history of St. Mary’s College. But in the view of privileged observers his time is spent playing Don Corleone to Philip J. Pierre’s Tom Hagen.

What a shock to the nation’s nervous system when he called during the May 14 episode of TALK to speak publicly about previously mothballed matters related to IMPACS, arguably Prime Minister Kenny Anthony’s most controversial initiative. So much for the Omertà-like code of silence established in 1997 by the near paranoidal new party leader.

My guest on the occasion was Senator and National Security Minister Hermangild Francis, a magnet for media attention— moreso since the incumbent United Workers Party confirmed he would wear their colors in the impending “nastiest general election,” against Kenny Anthony—for almost a quarter of a century also the parliamentary representative for Vieux Fort South.

My initial interest in Francis as a guest

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was triggered by some of his responses during an interview with Radio 100’s Andre Paul—especially to questions related to his career as a police officer. Evidently underestimating his dangerously uninformed interlocutor Francis admitted, in effect, that following a publicized “incident” involving his wife, then prime minister Kenny Anthony had stood in the way of his elevation to Commissioner of Police.

Before the week was out a retaliatory statement had caught the attention of media horseflies on home turf and in the more noisome nether regions of the Internet, maybe because the micturating racehorse on the occasion was none other than Kenny Anthony, too often referred to by local newscasters as “former prime minister” when it would be more appropriate to reference him in his current circumstances as the SLP’s contender in the Vieux Fort South stakes.

Type-casting himself yet again as perennial victim, Anthony confessed his earlier reluctance to bring into the public domain “matters of confidentiality.” But recent utterances by Hermangild Francis, including his “insinuation regarding my motives and his admission of spousal abuse” had demanded Anthony abandon his cultivated Mr. Goodguy image in the interest of his official reputation and to “clarify the historical record.” Besides, he added, Francis had himself opened the doors to his own personal record as a police officer.

Then there was Anthony’s eyebrowraising public confession that for purposes undeclared his administration had been “exceedingly kind and generous to Hermangild Francis,” for which preferential treatment he had shown scant gratitude. As for Francis’ reference on Radio 100 to the matter involving his former wife, Anthony revealed that a Canadian police officer at the time attached to the local force as deputy commissioner was “determined that Francis face disciplinary and criminal action for spousal abuse and assault.” Who or what had redirected the Canadian’s determination remains conjectural.

In Anthony’s telling, Francis was sent instead on leave, long enough “to calm the firestorm that had erupted as a result of the allegations.” He neglected to pinpoint the location and time of said firestorm, proffered no details of the troublesome allegations—only that as disruptive as they were Francis was nevertheless recalled and re-assigned Assistant Commission of Police in charge of Operations. Seemingly

National Security Minister in the Allen Chastanet government, Hermangild Francis was a senior police officer in the time of Kenny Anthony. More recently the last mentioned described Francis as “too tainted and compromised” to be a Labour Party election candidate.

contradicting himself, an unusually vague Anthony claimed “it was thought Francis could not head the crime unit since he himself was the subject of criminal investigations for assault.” Who thought that? Anthony did not say.

He revealed that Francis left Saint Lucia after “a short while for the Faculty of Law, UWI, Cave Hill, Barbados”—where Anthony had held the office of Dean. As for the circumstances of his acceptance at the Faculty of Law and the concomitant benefits, Anthony promised to release details at a future date. He offered a titillating teaser: “Hermangild Francis was not selected on a competitive basis.”

He further recalled that between 2006 and 2011 Francis had “languished in Anse la Raye . . . until he offered himself as a candidate of the St. Lucia Labour Party for the Anse la Raye/Canaries constituency.”

Alas he stood little chance against physician Desmond Long, also known as The Mighty

Pep, winner of multiple calypso awards.

By Anthony’s measure Long was by some distance “the superior and far better candidate.” Hermangild Francis was “too compromised and tainted to be a candidate for the St. Lucia Labour Party.” So Anthony believed in 2011, so he believes “even more so now!”

In his own defense, Francis assured TALK viewers he had “never been arrested, never been charged with rape or any other crime” that might’ve rendered him too sullied reputationally to sit with the respectable gentlemen of the St. Lucia Labour Party. Besides, Francis recalled, following his return to the RSLPF from Cave Hill— where one of his law professors was Kenny Anthony’s wife—he was in quick succession twice promoted. He not so subtly implied the “tainted and compromised” label would better suit some that the SLP had embraced over the years, and placed in conspicuous government positions.

ents on IMPACS

as Weak!

When his TV host reminded him of a story published in the STAR newspaper, based on a reported contretemps with his former spouse, Francis blamed himself but denied the marital spat had escalated to violence.

Suffice it to say it was an evening of discombobulating surprises, especially my guest’s recollection of how he arrived at a UWI law degree. (See ‘How Hermangild Francis Got To UWI.’) As for that earlier cited Calixte George contribution, it began with the caller correcting my guest’s assertion that just one local police officer had traveled to the UK to interview British personnel for temporary employment with the RSPF. “What you stated was not quite true,” George gently prodded. “I was National Security Minister at the time. The UK interviews were conducted by five qualified Saint Lucians.” Francis did not challenge the proffered recollection.

Talk about the current state of the force and its apparent inability to handle local crime soon brought us to the undead and unprosecuted IMPACS report first mentioned by Prime Minister Kenny Anthony in an August 2013 address to the nation, in particular its continuing devastating impact on police morale and on relatives of associated casualties. The opposition party had two days earlier called for “clarification” on the status of the report!

Shortly before Calixte George called I had cited the fact that at least six inquests into fatal police shootings at the time of Operation Restore Confidence had returned no-fault verdicts in favor of the police. In a televised speech on the evening of August 13, 2013 the day’s prime minister had said: “Where unexplained killings occur, our law provides for coroners inquests to be conducted by a magistrate to determine if possible the cause of the death of a subject of the inquest. In the case of the twelve killings earlier mentioned, I am advised that six inquests have been held. The inquest into the five individuals who were killed in the police operation in Vieux Fort is underway but remains incomplete.”

Importantly: “Of the six inquests that have been completed, the coroners returned verdicts of ‘death by lawful act.’ . . . Since the United States has decided to impose sanctions on members of the Royal St. Lucia Police Force, then it is reasonably clear that it does not have confidence in the outcome of the inquests to bring those responsible for the killings to just; that is, if there is a basis to do so. Clearly, too, the presumption seems to be that the killings were unlawful . . .”

I asked the retired former National

Security Minister if he knew why his once upon a time Cabinet colleague had ignored the court’s findings—and that others into the Vieux Fort deaths were underway. Also, whether local court verdicts depended for validity on the U.S. government. I reminded him of our law that permits the reopening of inquests by the DPP. Calixte George: “Let’s put it this way: the IMPACS matter is a question of pressure from the U.S. government on the prime minister. The prime minister should’ve been strong enough to say, ‘Look here, our people have done what needed to be done according to our laws and that’s the end of the matter.’ The moment you try something else . . . that is why we have all the problems. That is my position.”

As for the way forward: “We have to go according to what our laws say and forget about what the Americans may think. In any case, the Americans were not giving us that much help and assistance.”

“Doesn’t that make things worse?”

“Yes,” he agreed, “The only reason they gave us whatever they did was to help our marine police control drug trafficking in the interests of the United States.”

Two days after he called TALK, an online publication quoted the retired senator in its lead feature, headlined: Anthony Gave In To U.S. “If I were prime minister of Saint Lucia at the time I would have ignored the United States government because our judicial system had already some pronouncements . . . On the basis the inquest had been completed there was no need for a further investigation. The prime minister weakened and tried to appease the U.S. government by reopening the issue . . . As far as I am concerned there is little anybody in Saint Lucia can do to satisfy the demand of the United States!”

Hopefully, Kenny Anthony will keep his promise in relation to Hermangild Francis and his law degree. It would also go a long way toward proving the SLP truly puts “the people first,” if he should tell what were the pressures placed on him by the U.S. government, and under which, reportedly, had buckled.

From the steps of the Castries market shortly after his 16-1 election victory, Kenny Anthony held up a particular edition of Dennis Dabreo’s One Caribbean newspaper that the new prime minister claimed had tainted his reputation. The cited defamatory article detailed cloak and dagger activities of George Odlum and Muamar Gadaffi.

Rick Wayne interviews Hermangild Francis on his admission to UWI’s Faculty of Law RW: How did you get to go study law?

HF: Dr. Anthony.

Francis: OK. Claudius [his brother and former Senate president] and Ernest Hilaire came to my house in Anse la Raye after they had seen that story in the STAR newspaper. [See ‘Prime Minister Was Weak’ in this issue.] Ernest said: ‘Hermangild, are you averse to going away to study?’ I said: ‘Ernest, I understand 2001 is an election year and I don’t want to put the Labour Party under any pressure to defend me becoming Police Commissioner at this time. You would have had to defend that. So, sure I will take the opportunity to study.

Eventually I got a call. They told me that I’d going to Barbados. When I got there, Mr. Crichlow, the Deputy Dean of the University of the West Indies, told me I’d be studying for a diploma in Management.

That’s just before the 2001 elections.

I left just before. That’s about two to three weeks after the story came out.

I didn’t want the party to be put under any pressure because of me. I can’t remember who called me but I was told that I had to go to Barbados. So I went and I met Mr. Crichlow. He said I would be doing a diploma in Management. I told him I wasn’t interested and I would be returning home to Saint Lucia. He said, ‘No, no, no. You can’t go home.’ He picked up the phone right in front of me and he called the prime minister. He said: ‘Dr. Anthony you have this gentleman there, the guy is bright enough to do a full degree.’ Dr. Anthony must’ve asked him to find out what I wanted to do. I said I wanted to do law and Mr. Crichlow started laughing. I asked him why he was laughing and he said: ‘Because law is an honour subject. To get into the law faculty you must have a first degree or three A-levels.’ I said, ‘That’s it, then. My goose is cooked because I don’t have that.’ And then he said: ‘No, no, no. Don’t worry, let’s make a deal.’

He suggested I do social sciences for one year, get good grades and then he would transfer me to the faculty of law. I agreed. I said this was a challenge I was ready to take on.

RW: The Saint Lucia government paid for all your studies?

HF: Yes. It was a scholarship. So I was also receiving my police salary. I did social sciences the first year and got very good grades. The second semester, my now ex-wife was the one who got the results. She asked me whether she could open the envelope. When she saw what was in it she said: ‘Wow look at that. Your results.” I asked what else was in the envelope and she said: ‘Well it says here that you have now been accepted to the Law Faculty.’ And that was that. That’s how I did it. I had done one year of social sciences. The scholarship is for only three years. So after the third year I went to Cabinet and I spoke to Mario Michel who was acting prime minister at the time.

I was owed about 90-something days vacation leave so I asked him whether he could change it from study leave to vacation leave. When he checked 90 days turned out to be not long enough. He gave me extra time to continue my studies and I finished in 2005 [with Second Class Honours].

RW: This is what Kenny Anthony stated on the subject in his press release of May 11, 2021: ‘Suffice it to say that Hermangild Francis was not selected on a competitive basis to attend the Faculty of Law to pursue an LLB degree.’

Nevertheless, the point is you did attend UWI’s Law Faculty and that the prime minister arranged it even though you both admit you didn’t qualify. Is that right?

HF: He arranged it! Well, inadvertently because . . .

RW: Inadvertently? Are you say the government of Saint Lucia, the taxpayers of this country, are paid for your time at the University of the West Indies, all arranged by Kenny Anthony inadvertently?

HF: Well, then yes. He arranged everything. Okay, yes!

RW: So who is paying for that?

HF: Saint Lucia, the government of Saint Lucia.

RW: The taxpayers of Saint Lucia would be paying for a course you never asked for? That was almost forced on you for party convenience?

HF: Yes. Exactly!

RW: Who facilitated all of that?

Editor’s Note: Kenny Anthony acknowledged in his press statement that ‘there is no question the former SLP administration was exceedingly kind and generous to Hermangild Francis and he has shown little or no gratitude, not even grudgingly to the former administration.”

Anthony promised in a subsequent statement to explain ‘the circumstances under which he [Francis] was accepted in the Faculty of Law and the benefits he received while at the faculty.’

MAY 31, 2021

THE STAR

13

The Trois-Kat

by Celeste Boyd-Franklyn

A

nd they, with thunderous applause, cheered death, not realizing it was their own. Rufus Bousquet gave an ominous warning, asking, “How do you form a government with this?” Well, after nearly five years into their administration, the evidence is incontrovertible, we should not have. By virtually every metric, this UWP administration has failed. However, like three-card monte or “trois-kat” hustlers, they utilize shills to propagate and deploy written puff pieces, glossy photographs and renderings to get our gazes away from the objective reality.

Their term is virtually over, and there is need for a clear-eyed accounting of their performance. Having audited their accounts, I will present some of the crucial findings. I will focus on three issues and metrics that were most crucial in their 2016 electoral victory: health, crime and the economy. Given the constraints of space I will focus at this time on their health record.

A fire gutted St Jude Hospital in 2009 and forced services to be delivered at the George Odlum National Stadium.

This arrangement was supposed to have been temporary. Donations from locals and friendly governments were collected; a rebuilt hospital was promised to be delivered in less than two years. Of course such a timeline was unrealistic, but it created an expectation that would prove difficult to satisfy. (An issue deserving of separate attention).

With a new party forming the government at the end of 2011, it was expected that they would see the reconstruction through to rapid conclusion.

For a host of reasons they were unable to complete the construction during their time in office. During that interregnum, at least four timelines were given for completion, none fulfilled. Leading up to the 2016 elections, the cries for the urgent completion of the hospital grew increasingly louder. As did demands that the stadium be returned to those for whom it was built in the first place.

At the start of 2016, the then opposition chided the administration for not having commissioned the OKEU hospital. The government was criticized for merely naming, not opening, the hospital. They went further, promising to march to the hospital, to demand the operationalization of the dialysis chairs they claimed were stored in a container.

The opposition stoked those flames.

Whether or not people understood the real challenges affecting the delivery of services, by the time of the election

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The writer contends there’s a calculated reason why the government has not announced an opening date for St. Jude Hospital—and it’s not so as to avoid making the same mistake as the Kenny Anthony administration.

there was much angst about the state of healthcare. The UWP thus promised to urgently resolve those issues.

Of course, because from inception they were never honest with the public, they have been unable to improve the state of health-care delivery, and have only needlessly set it back. Despite his hysteria and theatrics about dialysis, Allen Chastanet was not able to operationalize the additional chairs until 2018, a full two years after forming the government.

Four years later, COVID-19 forced the transitioning of services from Victoria Hospital to the OKEU, and even as I write arrangements for the staffing and management of the entity are yet to be finalized. So much for urgency of action.

The administration has played dangerous politics with the public’s health in their overseeing of the reconstruction of the SJH. With the project having gone beyond the public’s expected completion date, it is understandable that an administration would want to know the reason. Therefore, commissioning of a project audit was not unreasonable, but did not necessitate stoppage for it to be conducted.

Even if fraud or other illegalities was suspected, rationalizing the need to stop the project, because the completed audit made no such conclusions/allegations, it confirms the baselessness and callousness

in the decision to stop the project for such an extended duration. The audit made no claims of misfeasance on the part of any government minister, nor does it suggest that monies were misspent.

As if further to compound the insensitivity of the decision and to fire up the emotions of the gullible, Guy Joseph sought to mislead the public by stating that the hospital was being constructed without a plan. If no plans were available, against what basis was the audit being conducted? How would value for money be determined? How would one know the schedule of services on offer, and the patient and operational flow of the hospital?

Allen Chastanet would confirm his own mendacity and his unbridled capacity to mislead the House by offering, during his contribution to the 2018/19 Debate on the Estimates, the following word salad: “So, we have seen, and through his own admission —I mean I was actually really amazed about his honesty. That the Member for Laborie actually read out the Budget numbers for St Jude going back all that time. That he showed that when they came into government, that the Budget amount was $36 million. And before they left office, it was $136 million. Isn’t that remarkable? That is in his own words.

And, what we are now realizing is it that the number of expenditure is close to, if

I am not mistaken . . . $180 million? One hundred and seventy-five million, of which when they did the audit, they could not find where that money was spent. So, this is why we are now having to spend money on a consultancy. In order to be able to find out where the source of funds is.”

From the quoted statement, it is evident that Allen Chastanet, as Minister for Finance, does not know the difference between the project cost and project expenditure.

The referenced audit was submitted on 9 January 2017, and his statement to the House was on 22 March, 2018. In the very Estimate that he tabled and was debating, the project cost was identified as $137,171,936 and total expenditure on the project was $96,945,211. I guess the public would hear his words and not see the actual numbers in his budget.

In what should be an august chamber, they then enlisted their supporters to serve as shills, wittingly or otherwise, to con the public. Their newly appointed project manager would in 2018 coordinate a misguided tour of the stopped project to their party faithful. No professional body—not the SLMDA or the Association of Engineers or Architects—was invited on this guided tour.

Nearly three years later, the government would find another unwitting shill to continue their con. This time the Prime Minister himself used media personality

Hustlers “Franny” to pull the wool over the public’s eye. He invited her to tour the facilities (the abandoned and new construction) without preconditions. Franny is no builder, contractor or health-care professional, and as such was in no way equipped to ask the pertinent questions about the efficacy of what she was being shown. I don’t know the order of the tour or precisely what she was told on her private tour. However, during an interview with the MP for Castries South, based on statements made about her observations, it is clear that she, like those before, was bamboozled.

She observed that some of the rooms in the stopped project were small and had low ceilings. She also noted the size of corridors and doors in the buildings were narrow. These were some of the same observations parroted by those party supporters who received the initial tours.

None of those observers were able to say whether those corridors were supposed to be accessed by and or with patients, or whether they were exclusively for staff access. With regard to the low ceilings,

those who took the tour did not tell the public that those ceiling heights were not throughout the buildings, but was only in the basement. That while the ceiling height in the basement was lower than what obtained in the rest of the facilities, no ceiling was below a ninety inches from ground. Neither did they say that not even the Prime Minister would have to duck or lower his head to walk in or through those areas. Further, they could not state that the services scheduled to be located in those areas could not be performed in them because of their size or heights.

Franny, who seemed in awe or at least suitably satisfied with the new construction, claimed that it was much bigger than the abandoned one. However, she was not in a position to comment on the size of any room in that new facility, as there were yet no installed partitions to demarcate rooms. Ducting for airconditioning or to pipe gases, nor electrical and other wiring and fixtures had yet been installed, and as such she could not determine or compare ceiling heights nor

room sizes. Doors had not been installed to get a comparison with those in the stopped facility. Franny was not taken for her knowledge or expertise, but as a patsy in a propaganda war, to con the unsuspecting or uncritical population.

Two weeks after Franny’s tour, the official opposition was denied similar accommodation.

Despite themselves having given alternate and now elapsed dates for the commissioning of the new facility, the Government is now trying to avoid giving new dates for the opening.

This so they can evade accountability.

Notwithstanding, none who have visited the new facility have suggested that it is at a more advanced stage of completion than the abandoned facility. What this therefore means, is that after 58 months of this administration, the commissioning of SJH is no closer than it was on June 6, 2016. This sad state of affairs turned out to be quite deadly, as evidenced by the rate of Covid-19 infections and deaths.

Having flaunted his folly by

celebrating the completion of a horse racecourse ahead of the commissioning and completion of OKEU and SJH, the advent of Covid-19 exposed the inadequacy of our health facilities. He grasped at straws, suggesting that Rat Island be used as a quarantine site. The island had fewer testing kits and PPE available to it than other OECS member states.

At first, and primarily because of luck, there were few infections. They chose to celebrate, even boasting their managerial proficiency, broadcasting that they were best in the word at managing the virus.

They thumped their chests, and with rhetorical flair proclaimed “How could you argue with success?” And their supporters cheered, ignoring all call for temperance.

Today, Saint Lucia is truly number one in the OECS, and not for a positive. Today, with the exception of the French Members, Saint Lucia has more Covid-19 infections and deaths than the rest of the OECS combined. An incontrovertible failure of this administration.

MAY 31, 2021

THE STAR

15

Saint Lucian entrepreneur passionate about youth development O

ECS YES In Action, connected with Jada Francis, a 21-year-old studententrepreneur from Saint Lucia whose success in an unconventional Caribbean enterprise is inspiring many other young persons to pursue their passions!

STAR: Tell us a little about yourself.

Francis: I am currently in the final stages of completing my Bachelor’s degree in International Development at Humber College. I have a passion for youth development as well as the arts, specifically performing arts and music.I started my company XONA in February 2020, which is currently focused on tropical wines and wine-based events. The goal is to eventually add more products to the brand, and expand throughout the Caribbean region.

or academics, I always thought that I possessed the necessary skills to become an ambassador and therefore, that was the plan. I started my company XONA with the same idea in mind, ‘represent Saint Lucia.’

Though it may be slightly unconventional, I believe this company has the potential to do just that.

STAR: When did you know this was something you wanted to pursue in the longterm?

Saint Lucian entrepreneur Jada Francis determined to expand ‘XONA’ brand

Francis: There was never a moment when I decided ‘this is it.’ I have always been quite tenacious in my endeavors, and where XONA is concerned, finding motivation was never an issue as it constantly and genuinely excites me. The entire process, seeing how people positively respond to your product or brand, is enough to keep anyone going.

STAR: When did you first recognize your inclination towards entrepreneurship and development?

STAR: Have you encountered any major challenges in your journey to this point?

Francis: I have always wanted to represent my country, since my primary and secondary school days. Whether it was sports, arts

Francis: The biggest challenge was finding suppliers to take me seriously as I was not only a young woman, but I also came

from a small island developing state (SIDS).

Suppliers questioned my ability to meet their numbers. It took a lot of negotiating and patience to push past these challenges.

STAR: What are some accomplishments you are most proud of?

VACANCY Real Foods Inc. the franchise holder for the KFC brand in St. Lucia is looking to recruit a System Administrator for its growing operations.

The System Administrator will be responsible for ensuring the functionality and efficiency of Point of Sale (POS) and IT Systems. Duties include but are not limited to: • • • • • • • •

Designing, implementing, and overseeing installation, set up and updating of all POS equipment including but not limited to cash registers, credit card machines, and computers.

Providing a high level of technical support for POS system user operating equipment Performing technical analysis and troubleshooting for all IT systems and equipment to deal with hardware and software discrepancies.

Providing on or off-site, telephone or remote technical support for all locations for hardware and software.

Performing daily system monitoring, verifying integrity and availability of all hardware, server resources, system, and key processes.

Generate reports as required for Purchasing and Marketing departments to reflect sales and product usage.

Configure and manage company email service.

Source equipment necessary to complete IT related activities

OTHER REQUIREMENTS • • • •

Valid Driver’s license & regular access to a reliable vehicle Must have good interpersonal skills Must be customer-focused and analytical Must be able to multi-task with adjusting priorities All interested persons are required to apply on or before Wednesday 2nd June 2021.

Applications with resumes must be emailed to: realfoodshr@gmail.com with the subject “System Administrator” We thank all applicants for their interest, but only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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Francis: As a successful 21-year-old female entrepreneur from a small island, I believe I have inspired many other young persons to push outside of themselves. I am met constantly by young persons wanting to share their new ideas, tell me about their start-ups, or ask for my opinion or feedback.

I think I have contributed to an emerging generation of Caribbean extraordinaire and it makes me so proud to see the youth development within the region.

STAR: What are the goals you most want to accomplish?

Francis: I would like to see XONA become a successful regional luxury brand, with its own culture.

STAR: Did you have any key mentors or people who deeply influenced your journey?

Francis: For me, the biggest issue the pandemic caused was hindering my ability to travel back to Saint Lucia to run the company while navigating online classes. I had to postpone launches and meetings as every flight I booked kept getting cancelled for months until July 2020. I think the pandemic forced me to slow down and reassess my methods. By doing so, I think my quality of execution has become ten times better than what it would’ve been had the pandemic not happened.

STAR: What advice would you give to young people as they look to navigate past the COVID-19 era?

Francis: Firstly, have patience. It is very easy to get caught up and over confident in your idea because of how passionate you are about it, which makes it easy to be blindsided from the reality of the hard work that goes into it to get the results you want.

Secondly, as much as it is smart to get other people’s feedback and ideas, stay true to your vision. It is very easy to change your mind or feel insecure about your ideas when you have other people’s perceptions in mind, but remember only you can do it like you.

Francis: My parents have always been extremely supportive of me and all my endeavours. Once they see how passionate and serious I am, they support me entirely.

Kentillia Louis has also been my mentor for years, since I became a student of her performing arts company. Since then, she has become a third parent/guardian/manager and has been on my side no matter what.

STAR: What’s next for you? What are you looking forward to?

STAR: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on young people. How have you been able to cope with the uncertain times brought about by the pandemic?

For more information about the company/ brand, follow us on social media @ XONAWINES (On all platforms) and check out our website www.xonawines.com!

Francis: The COVID -19 pandemic has slowed me down in terms of hosting events–due to all the protocols in place. However, as soon as things open up, I look forward to hosting a series of events and expanding the XONA brand.

Natural Products for Health . . . Naturally!

by Dr. Gayle Devaux-Segovia

H

elping to support your health, nourish and protect your skin are just some of the benefits when using natural-based products. Natural ingredients are generally more compatible with the body, and less irritating. This can be especially helpful for

those with sensitivities that may react to chemicals found in common cosmetics.

Artificial colours, artificial fragrances, petroleum-based mineral oils and chemicals, emulsifiers, and preservatives are all potential assaults and added burdens to the body. While the obvious signs may be localized to the skin, there are also concerns regarding what chemicals are then absorbed

through the skin into your body. Indeed, it is commonly said: “what you put on your skin, goes in your body”!

Natural cosmetics will normally make use of nature’s healing wisdom, by formulating with time-tested plant extracts that can provide skin-nourishing oils and essential fatty acids, healing essential oils, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytonutrients. The benefits can include increased hydration, rejuvenation and skin renewal.

If you are experiencing any health challenges, you may want to consider what products and chemicals you are constantly being exposed to and then take steps to decrease or eliminate and replace with a natural product. This can be an important step in your wellness journey.

Natmed Ltd has been manufacturing healthy and eco-friendly skincare and herbal products in St. Lucia since 1997. Caribbean Blue® Naturals and Natmed Herbals™ are formulated by Naturopathic Doctors and inspired by the natural elements of the Caribbean – our lush rainforests, golden beaches and dazzling blue sea. Our primary focus is on skincare, with three popular lines: Skin Balancing for acne-prone skin, Nature’s Botox for dry or maturing skin, and Caribbean Glow body products. We also manufacture products for many spas and small skincare businesses in St. Lucia.

Caribbean Blue® Naturals Sunscreen SPF15 and SPF25 are natural-based and

use zinc oxide (non-nano sized particles) to provide safe and effective UVB and UVA protection from over exposure to the sun.

While protecting you, they also help protect our environment as they are marine / coral reef friendly. Caribbean Blue® Naturals Sunscreen avoids the common sunscreen chemical ingredients that are banned in many eco-conscious destinations: The U.S. Virgin Islands recently announced a ban on chemical sunscreens that are harmful to coral reefs, outlawing all imports and sales of sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate. https://www.smartertravel.com/ sunscreen-ban-destinations/ Other vacation spots taking the same position include: Hawaii, Palau, Bonaire, Key West FL, USA, and Mexican nature reserves.

Our Natmed Herbals™ brand is a line of herbal extracts formulated with organically grown herbs that have a long history of traditional use for common health complaints: Echinacea, Goldenseal and Astragalus root extracts to help fight colds and flu, Ginseng to boost energy and relieve stress, Ginkgo to improve circulation and mental clarity, Dandelion and Burdock to help with detox and weight management, etc.

We are proud to have been serving St. Lucia and the broader community over the many years, with our beauty, health and wellness products and invite you to browse our retail outlet Caribbean Blue® Naturals at the JQ Mall, Rodney Bay and on the web at www.CaribbeanBlueNaturals.com

The Manufacturing Sector remains one of Export Saint Lucia’s priority sectors helping to create an enabling environment as well ushering support where needed to get our locally manufactured products to foreign markets. To learn more about Export Saint Lucia’s role in the manufacturing sector contact: +1758-468-2145 info@exportsaintlucia.org www.exportsainlucia.org @exportsaintlucia on Social Media You could also visit our offices 2nd Floor, Hewanorra House Pointe Seraphine, Castries, Saint Lucia

MAY 31, 2021

THE STAR

17

Time for St. Lucia’s Poet Laureate

The late Derek Walcott pictured with Sir John Compton (l-r). Walcott was the winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize for “a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity sustained by historical outcome, the outcome of a multi-cultural commitment.”

by Andy Caul

A

nyone can get a good sense of St. Lucia’s history through its poetry.

Poetry records the sensibilities, aspirations, and turbulences in the life of a nation. It also provides solace in times of grief and pain. Countries normally look to their poets in times of national tragedy.

Poetry has been a savior to many during this pandemic. Additionally, poetry keeps nations honest by critiquing national hubris and irrational bureaucratic formations.

I believe it was George Odlum who correctly observed St. Lucia has “more Nobel laureates than any country in the world per square mile.” When Derek Walcott won the prize in 1992, the New York Times took note and published an article that tried to determine what was so special about St. Lucia that it was able to produce two Nobel prizewinners.

There is no doubt that this is an incredible feat that borders on the

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THE STAR

miraculous. There are countries with larger populations and numerous institutions of higher learning that have not won a Nobel Prize. This is no reason to say we do not need a university. On the contrary, we should be asking: What could we have achieved if the pursuit of higher education were not a Sisyphean project for most young persons in St. Lucia?

Just a few months ago, in January, we celebrated Nobel Laureate Week in honor of our renowed economist Sir Arthur Lews and our legendary poet. A poet laureate would complement our yearly celebration and highlight the importance of poetry and the creative arts. Just recently, Jamaica announced its new poet laureate, Olive Senior. The other islands with poet laureates are Barbados, the British Virgin Islands and Trinidad and Tobago.

St. Lucia is good at producing first class poets, and we do so without any formal system in place to foster their growth. We have a formidable roster of poets in whose works have been

acknowledged by respected publishers.

Additionally, many of our poets, whom we see and sometimes socialize with, studied at universities throughout the world. Many are called upon to participate in international poetry festivals and, during the pandemic, many are reading for international audiences.

It is unfortunate that we have not established the office of poet laureate in St. Lucia. We have talented poets in St. Lucia, among them: John Robert Lee, Kendel Hippolyte, Jane King, Vladmir Lucien, Adrian Augier, McDonald Dixon, George Goddard, Modeste Downes, Irvin Desir, George ‘Fish’ Alphonse, Virginia Archer, Anthony Avril Jr, Glen Charlery, Travis Weekes, Marcian JnPierre and Alscess Ismael. This list does not even include more than a half dozen St. Lucian poets who reside in other parts of the world. Most recently, Canisia Lubrin won the Windham Campbell Prize in Canada.

From the list above it can be seen that St. Lucia has considerable poetry capital.

Poetry is one of the oldest art forms, dating back to 2100 BCE, with the epic poem Gilgamesh. In the Christian tradition, poetry is central. There is poetry in Genesis and Exodus. When St. Paul gave his famous Mars Hill sermon in Acts 17: 22-31, he quoted Greek poetry. Hence, poetry has a deep connection to the sacred, and to the world.

Establishing an office of poet laureate would do wonders for the art of poetry in St. Lucia. Given what we have achieved without an official person promoting poetry, I can only imagine what could happen. I envision poetry incubators where young St. Lucians would be coached by some of the especially gifted in our midst. This will result in pupils with sharper analytical and linguistic skills: foundations for academic and career success. Furthermore, students from other countries could come to St. Lucia to attend workshops. I foresee a master-class in poetry tied to Nobel Laureate Week. I look forward to the announcement of St. Lucia’s first poet laureate in 2021.

Wheel and Come Again

By Malcolm Regis

M

r. Undertaker, build them a coffin.”

This tune by Ricky T should be atop the Prime Minister’s Playlist, given the record number of murders that have taken place under his watch. However, given his handling of the crime situation in this country, he should first wheel and come again. Previously, I promised to assess his performance against the three issues or metrics that were most crucial to his 2016 electoral victory. In this installment, I present his audited account on crime.

Between June 6, 2016 and May 1, 2021 there have been approximately 238 murders in Saint Lucia, representing the most in any five-year span since the post emancipation period. I am not suggesting that the Prime Minister is personally responsible for all or any of those deaths.

However, the Prime Minister personalized the solution to the problem by suggesting that “Kenny Anthony can’t, but I will.” He held that Kenny Anthony was personally responsible for the solution to the problem, and that somehow he failed in the discharge of that duty.

So, how has Allen Chastanet discharged his duty with regard to controlling crime? We don’t need a forensic audit to determine the answer.

The evidence clearly demonstrates that he has been an unmitigated failure. The first ten days of 2017 were quite eventful in Saint Lucia, and not in a positive way. Gun shots rang in the New Year, resulting in a murder. There would be more fireworks throughout that opening week, not all of it gun-related. On January 5, 2017, news of a government minister soliciting sex from an 18-year-old, an intern at his in his office, hit the news and social media.

Embarrassing pictures of the nude minister nude in his office evidently pleasuring himself were in circulation, along with text messages between the minister and the student, discussing cash for sex. At the time, the Prime Minister was out of out the state. On that date, there were already as many murders as days in the year.

By January 10, 2017, the date the PM addressed those two issues, there were already eight murders for the year. On that date, the PM revealed he had neither the moral capacity nor the policy ideas to address the crime problem in the country.

He did not explicitly admit to his incapacity, but he might as well have, and put an end to the charade. In his attempt to address the two issues, the PM tried playing smart but was not clever at all. To sidestep the issue of ministerial impropriety and his inaction, he tried to assert the sub judice principle, though no case had yet been filed. The irony of his assertion, which was obviously lost on himself, was evident

Kenny Anthony in 2013 launched his own investigation into socalled “gross violations of human rights” by local police officers, despite that coroners’ courts had found nothing unlawful in several fatal shootings by members of the RSLPF. The IMPACS report was handed to the prime minister in 2015, when he promised there would be charges laid based on “damning evidence.” To date no one has been accused!

when he proclaimed that the reason for the spate of gun violence and murder was the breakdown of morality in the society.

Whatever he thought of the Minister’s legal pickle, its moral dimensions were evidently absent in his thought process. The PM apparently did not see any immorality in the behavior of a Minister, who instead of using the power of his offices to expand opportunities for the development of youth, would seek instead to use it for

sexual gratification and preying on young vulnerable females. By the end of 2017, Saint Lucia would have recorded the highest number of murders in a single year: 60. There was little abatement in 2018, with 45 murders being recorded.

The Minister of National Security would organize a national symposium on crime, and the Prime Minister did not even bother to show up. Subsequent discussions on crime would hear the PM offer the pabulum that he conceived his Cluster Cabinet as a crime fighting strategy. The

cluster proved ineffective, and was quietly blown away, as Ministers were given new warrants and their own ministries.

Not properly understanding the society or the dimensions of crime, he thought he would latch on to low hanging fruit or defenseless persons on which to blame the crime situation. He targeted young single mothers. He did not see vulnerability as the cause of their status; he instead appeared to blame them for the societal problem of crime. When his handlers attempted to walk back his statement, he doubled down, even promoting a form of eugenics to deal with the problem of single parenting.

He proposed sterilization of teenagers who got pregnant more than once. He gave no consideration to, or at least did not address the action of males, or even suggest support, care and counselling to those young mothers. Given his vendetta against the National Trust and some of its employees and affiliates, he would breach an agreement he had with them, regarding the Royal Gaol. In his rashness, he would demolish “Custody Suites” and not have alternative holding cells for prisoners. As a direct consequence, due to the inadequacy of their holding area, someone arrested and charged for murder would escape police custody in Babonneau, and is yet to be recaptured.

The ostensible haste for demolishing the old gallows was to construct a new Halls of Justice and Police Headquarters.

In the year since the demolition, the site has turned to a parking lot. In this year’s Estimates, the sum of $100,000 was approved for the conduct of the geo-technical analysis with regard to construction of the Police Headquarters and Criminal Court. Notwithstanding all the showcased renderings, this is the only line item in the budget addressing construction of those buildings. Is that an indication of the priority level assigned to this activity?

During his period in opposition, the PM would lament what he believed was low level of police morale. He would blame IMPACS for that low morale. He promised: “Within 100 days of assuming office, appoint a high level tribunal consisting of former members of the judiciary to review the background to, and take follow-up action on, the IMPACS Report with a view to recommending appropriate means of resolving the situation within the parameters of the laws of Saint Lucia.” It’s now nearly 1800 days since he is Prime Minister, and as yet there is not a word, not a word, not a word of such a tribunal, far less any recommended action. His inability to confront the fallout from IMPACS is similar to his effeteness on handling crime. On that basis, the electors should, in reference to him, say: “Wheel and come again. Wham to him?” [See Prime Minister Was Weak in this issue!]

MAY 31, 2021

THE STAR

19

Kenny Anthony on Crime: We have got some things wrong . . . not doing the right things!

I

’ve invited you to look more deeply at the issues of crime in our society, in our country. I reflect that over the years, we have done almost everything people demanded of us to do about crime, yet we have not been able to resolve it. What on earth is wrong?

I invite you to remember the SLP initiatives over the years that we have been in office. Remember the number of new and refurbished police stations? We built the greatest number of police stations in this country. On the legislative front, we modernized our laws. We enacted a new Criminal Code. Can you remember that Criminal Code? I’m sure you remember because although we had a criminal code, a lot of people thought the criminal code was solely about the issues of abortion— but that’s another story for another time.

We also enacted a new Evidence Act to arm the police with better laws, so that they can gather evidence that can provide them with the convictions that they need.

Then we brought reform to the court system. We introduced a Criminal Division of the High Court to deal with criminal offences and we thought this reform would have helped to reduce those in remand to justice faster, more quickly. The question is: have we realized the promise of that initiative?

We enacted, as we promised in our last manifesto, anti-gang legislation and I’m gonna have a little more to say about that. We were the ones who constructed a forensic lab in this country. And when I hear Chastanet and Hermangild Francis boast about the fact that they met a forensic lab that was closed, I can only laugh because I remember Chastanet saying Saint Lucia does not need a forensic lab, that what he supports is a regional forensic facility to serve all the islands. Saint Lucia does not need a forensic lab, he said. He opposed it!

And then there were reforms to the police force. We made changes to the high command. We increased the numbers who got promotions to the upper echelons of the police force—the intention being that we would’ve produced a cadre of officers to pave the way for the appointment of deputy police commissioners and when the time arose for it, commissioners of police.

We took the dramatic step to invite foreign personnel to help with the reform process. I turned to Canada and then when that didn’t work out we turned to British police officers, but that too did not work out. They met stiff competition. Many of them could not cope with the conditions and opted to return to the United Kingdom.

We have had another lesson to learn.

Then there was significant investment in vehicles, especially for the World Cup.

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DPP Greene promised nearly five years ago to resolve some of the more pressing problems of local crime fighters.

And all the time we hear the police have no vehicles, that we were not giving them the resources. Yet they were provided with brand new vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, all kinds of paraphernalia to help them to combat crime. And I’m sure that you will not forget that at the other end of the spectrum, it was the Labour Party that built a new correctional facility to drive rehabilitation.

It was intended to work hand-in-hand with the new reforms so that at least we could’ve used new correctional methods to deal with those who had been incarcerated at Bordelais Correctional Center. Unless you forget too—because the point is always made that we need to motivate our police officers, we need to encourage them, we need to provide them with better conditions of employment; none of those things I deny; we need to provide them with opportunities—we enacted legislation to govern compensation for police officers.

We were the government that did it. Yes, there have been subsequent amendments but the inspiration came from us.

Then remember, too, when the public complained that they were mistreated by the police, they were unfairly treated, they were abused, that the solution was the creation of a Police Complaints Authority.

We did, we enacted legislation. We created it. Whether of course it has worked is a different question.

And remember another initiative that I want to touch on very briefly: Remember we used to provide incentives for the return of unlawful firearms? Remember the number of firearms we recovered?

The highest number of firearms in any one year. You know what? The United Workers Party, when they won the general election in 2006, they promptly discontinued it. They said it was a waste of money. And over the years what have we seen? The proliferation of weapons, of guns of all types, all makes, all kinds of sophistication.

And then too we reached out to the public. We introduced more town hall style meetings to bring the police to the community so that the community can explain to them their fears, their hopes and offer solace and advice to deal with the problem of crime.

This is not to say that the United Workers Party did not have initiatives.

Yes they did! And there were a few.

They introduced cameras in selected places—although the Labour Party found when it got into office, none of these cameras worked. They of course devised and operationalized. They had Operation Restore Confidence, and you know the result of that. Then in recent times we can say they have created a new arm of the police, the City Police. Of course it is the private police force of the Mayor of Castries. Then, too, they have replaced vehicles.

But more than anything else they have politicized the hierarchy of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, to the point where the police force is hardly recognizable. The word independence has just disappeared and evaporated.

Now the question is, when we bring all of these initiatives together, why then

have they seemingly had little impact on the problem of crime in Saint Lucia?

We bring these initiatives whether jointly or individually, yet we do not seem to have got the results we wanted. That’s a problem we have because it is not for lack of trying, not for lack of new initiatives, not for lack of wanting to tackle the problems head on. Yet crime remains stubborn. It means, therefore, that we have got some things wrong and we are not doing the right things. And I put it to you that this government must take the blame more than any other government in the history of Saint Lucia because it has become helpless. It does not know what to do to deal with the problems that face us. The statistics speak for themselves. And when you ask them for what new initiatives they have introduced, they can’t tell you, they cannot show you.

As a country, as a people, as a community we cannot descend into helplessness. We cannot normalize a life of crime. We have to fight it. We have to resolve it and we cannot avoid discussion of it. We now have to produce a new agenda to fight crime in our country. We need to be bold! We need to be dramatic!

We need to be imaginative! We need to revisit all the approaches of the past and discard what has not worked and we have to search for new solutions.

The former prime minister and current MP for Vieux Fort South addressed the nation on Tuesday evening via Zoom, with the day’s main topic centered on four homicides in less than 24 hours. Of course, the nation had been there before!

The Night I Died And Went To Hell I

never had the mumps or measles or chickenpox or whooping cough. I was an extremely healthy kid, save for one unmentionable recurring affliction. No matter how I tried, I could not beat it. My super-Catholic mother was convinced I did what I did in the dark just to spite her. I’d stay up nights, praying for divine assistance. To St. Anthony . . . or was it St. Patrick? It really doesn’t matter, I was convinced Heaven on the whole had given up on me.

My problem was a recurring dream: I’d be on a beach, beautiful white sand all around. I’d look around two or three times just to be certain where I was before I did it. Then I’d wake up only to discover that there was no beach, just me in trouble again. It got so bad that after a time I couldn’t be certain whether I was in bed or actually strolling somewhere or at school or playing hide-and-seek with friends in the high bush back of the school playground. Whenever I felt the urge I held back for as long as it took to determine I wasn’t in bed, then I’d let loose, only discover I’d been dreaming again.

When Dad left home to take a job with Lago Heights Oil Refinery in Aruba, Mother started inviting us in turn to sleep with her in her big beautiful bed with its cool sheets and dream-maker fluffy pillows. First my younger brother, then my sister, then me. On my first night in her bed mother woke me four times just to be sure I was up to nothing bad . . . still I dreamed I was playing with my pal Boniface on a jetty near our parents’ beach-side homes. I was so sure I wasn’t in bed, that it was broad daylight and I was determined to prove to Boniface I could pee farther into the sea than he could. A stupid game that I should’ve known would end badly for me. Needless to say, I landed in trouble again.

Of course, it was only a matter of time before my mother caught me in the act. In flagrante delicto, as they say. Right in the middle of doing it on what I was so certain was warm beach sand. Only, of course, there was no beach and no sand when I woke up. The puddle in the middle of the bed was no mirage.

My problem was bedwetting.

Well, as I was saying, my mother caught me one night in mid flow. And boy was she furious! She dragged me out of bed by my ear and dumped me on the uncushioned living room sofa. I remember her grumbling something about the time: 1.30 a.m.

I sometimes tell myself so many years later what happened next was triggered by those damn pictures that hung in cheap faux gold frames all over our house. There was the one of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one delicate little white hand pressed against her immaculate heart, the other clutching a palm. In another picture a barefoot

Jesus was carrying a little lamb across his shoulders, and in another he was nailed half-naked to a cross . . . blood oozing from his bruised hands, his side, his feet and forehead, where a crown of thorns dug deep, and the scariest of all, Satan. His picture always brought to mind the Papa Jab, lips strawberry-red, skin black as tar . . . and oh, those demon fangs and horns . . . My mother’s living room reminded of nothing more than a crypt in a Dracula movie . . . I don’t remember falling asleep on the living room sofa, only that I was suddenly screaming at the top of my lungs . . .

Mother later told me she had jumped out of bed believing something terrible had happened to me, like getting bitten in the groin by a centipede or a scorpion. Instead she found me all hunched up on the sofa, tossing and kicking and sweating, my face a twisted mask of frozen terror. She said it took a full five minutes before I recovered from my nightmare: I am in bed. I think I’m dead. Two white angels are bent over me.

By their clean-shaven faces I can tell they are male. Strong, expressionless. They are similarly dressed in long-sleeved white robes, white cords around their waists, with what looked like little cotton balls at the ends of the cords. Their hands are soft as they tap me lightly on my shoulders to wake me. Tiny hands, at odds with their features; not at all manly. More like the hands of St. Theresa. Mother kept a small statue of her on a shelf in her bedroom.

The angels are wearing spotless white socks and shiny gold sandals.

I awake. They lift me by my armpits and in slow motion we rise off the floor.

Yet I can still see myself lying on the sofa as together we float up, up, up. At some point I notice their wings, large and whitefeathered, spread out rigid like the wings

of an airplane; not at all like birds’ wings.

Now we’re in a large hall that reminds me of our church. Several people are here, some sitting cross-legged on the shiny marble floor, others at four tables that bring to mind the table in the picture of Jesus and his apostles as they eat their last supper. My attention is drawn to one particular table. Seated there are twelve to fifteen old white men, all with white beards that reach down to their chests. They are dressed like the two angels who deposited me in the room and disappeared. Suddenly I realize two other male angels have taken their place on either side of me. A marble altar comes into view.

Then, trumpets! A very old man with a long silver beard that brushes his waist appears. On his head is a bejeweled crown—like the one on the head of the infant Jesus in Mother’s bedroom. He, too, is dressed in a long white robe, cord around his middle, white socks and golden sandals on his feet. All rise as he appears and walks slowly toward the altar in the middle of the room, the hem of his robe sweeping the floor behind him. All sit when he sits.

Those trumpets again! Now one of the angels is holding a scroll. Slowly he unfolds it, reads—obviously for my special benefit: “It is time to answer for your sins!” It hits me all of a sudden. I’m in a courtroom and the stooped-over old man with the longest beard is my judge— God. Those expressionless angels at the table are the jury, and the two at my side are guards, St. Michael and St. Peter!

I listen in silence as my crime sheet is dispassionately read out. I am horrified as I’m reminded of the days, the dates, the countless times I broke my dear mother’s heart by urinating in her bed, soiling her clean white sheets that she was forced to

launder every morning. At the end of the damning litany, even before the old man at the altar has said another word, the jury groans: “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!”

Now God raises both hands, like a priest blessing his congregation, says in blood-freezing tones: “I sentence you to eternal damnation—to burn forever in the fires of hell!” Then he turns his back on me, walks several steps and vanishes.

At this point, all rise again and I am led to the edge of a cliff at the back of the courtroom. I can hear the blood-curdling screams and pleas for mercy rising up from the midnight dark. But I see no one.

Then St. Peter places a gentle hand on the back of my neck and pushes me forward. I feel myself tumbling, tumbling, tumbling . . . down, down, down, till I can clearly see—fires everywhere. And I am falling straight into a lake of fire . . . which is when I start to scream.

Mother listened slack-jawed to my dream, eyes wide awake at 2 a.m. She picked me up and carried me into her bedroom, kissed me gently on my forehead and whispered: “God almighty, how could a little boy have such a nightmare? Holy father, how could a child so young have such a dream?”

Since then I’ve often pondered the possibility that I am not really here, that my life is all make-believe. I can reach out and touch things, do things, make things happen that no one else can, affect people but no one can get back at me, can’t touch me, can’t hurt me, can’t scare me. I am beyond human revenge, immune to the problems this world, for I died and went to hell when I was only six years old. I am invincible!

NB: The preceding is from It’ll Be Alright In The Morning, by Rick Wayne

MAY 31, 2021

THE STAR

21

How do you say our island home?

VACANCY NOTICE Saint Lucia Solid Waste Management Authority POST OF SOLID WASTE TREATMENT FACILITY SUPERVISOR Applications are invited from suitably qualified persons for appointment to the post of SOLID WASTE TREATMENT FACILITY SUPERVISOR at the Vieux Fort Solid Waste Management Facility (VFSWMF).

1. QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE Minimum qualifications are successful completion of a tertiary level programme in an environmental/engineering field and four (4) years relevant work experience or a university degree in an environmental/engineering field with two (2) years relevant work experience. Supervisory and management qualifications and experience would be an asset.

2. GENERAL ACCOUNTABILITY The Solid Waste Treatment Facility Supervisor will report to the Operations & Landfill Manager and will be responsible for the proper management of the Vieux Fort Solid Waste Management Facility which comprises a solid waste transfer station and a waste decomposition facility.

3. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 1.

Work in close collaboration with the Operations & Landfill Manager.

2.

Supervise all staff of the facility including Weighbridge Attendants during the performance of their duties.

3.

Ensure that all users depositing waste at the VFSWMF are properly directed in the use of the facility.

4.

Ensure that all users of the VFSWMF comply with all rules and conditions-of-use of the facility.

5.

Ensure that the waste decomposition machines are operated and maintained in accordance with the operating manual and the manufacturers’ maintenance schedule

6.

7.

Ensure that sufficient consumables are available and in stock for the proper functioning and maintenance of the waste decomposition machines.

8.

Ensure that all site staff wear personnel protective equipment at all times.

9.

Manage and supervise the filling and dispatch of the walking floor trailers.

10. Ensure that proper records are kept of the operations of the facility.

11. Required to report any issue of non-compliance by site users to the Operations and Landfill Manager.

12. Ensure that the skid steer loader is operated and maintained in a manner consistent with the operations manual and good operating practices.

13. Ensure the cleaning and disinfection of the waste treatment facility at the end of each working day.

14. Prepare weekly and monthly reports of the facility as required.

4. SALARY Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience and will be within Grade 5 of the salary scale of the Authority.

5. APPLICATIONS Written applications along with certified particulars of qualifications, training and experience, together with two (2) references should be received by: Friday, June 4, 2021 Applications should be delivered in person or by mail to the following address:

Ensure that during operational hours, the waste treatment facility building, site service roads, drains, and other areas of the facility are maintained free of litter.

The General Manager (Ag.) Saint Lucia Solid Waste Management Authority P. O. Box CP5722 Sans Souci Castries Saint Lucia

Loud echoes of mispronunciation even in extreme Orient!

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MAY 31, 2021

THE STAR

WE ARE COVID CERTIFIED

think that the following might be of some interest to Saint Lucians, therefore I am sending this letter in the hope that you publish it. The rapidly spreading mispronunciation (Yes, I venture to call it that!) of the name of our island and country is increasingly grating on my ears. I have heard loud echoes of this novel pronunciation even in the Extreme Orient, where I live.

In British English and Caribbean English, place names (eg, several other islands, or the parishes of Barbados) and saints’ names have always been pronounced “sint” (or less commonly “sent”). The pronunciation “saynt,” with a stronger vowel, is either U.S. pronunciation or a spelling pronunciation. Or, is used as a word in its own right, and not part of a name—as in, “Sint John is a saynt”.

The weak pronunciation has always been how Saint Lucians have pronounced Saint Lucia (for, I am sure, a couple of hundred years), irrespective of whether we write “Saint Lucia” or “St. Lucia”—and therefore this weak pronunciation cannot be viewed merely an “incorrect” pronunciation.

The decision to write “Saint” in full seems to have caused people increasingly to use the strong vowel pronunciation (especially on the radio and television, and in (semi-) official announcements).

I assume this is because people feel: the strong pronunciation is the

proper, official, pronunciation, and the weak pronunciation is slang or lazy pronunciation or this is being encouraged at the official level, or people are hypnotized and seduced by the actual spelling when they see S-A-IN-T. This last case is an example of a spelling pronunciation. In literate societies, people see the writing of a word, and pronounce the word as it is written. Thus, “forehead” is seldom pronounced “forrid” these days. And, who knows, “cupboard” may soon be going in the same direction.

To change the name of a place in which a people have lived for hundreds of years is to sever the connection between the people and the land which they live on—and off. Very sad! I have a feeling that this pronunciation is being taught and fostered in schools. (How are children being taught to sing the National Anthem?) So children will no longer be pronouncing our country in the way their grandparents and parents did and do. This is a serious rupture in the thread of historical continuity which joins us all through the generations.

The land that gave me birth is “Sint Lucia.” Not, as far as I can recollect, “Saynt Lucia.”

PS: A thought has just occurred to me.

Is this all an attempt at rebranding Saint Lucia? Quelle horreur!

Editor’s Note: Christopher Barnard once was a STAR writer highly regarded by our readers. He now resides in Tokyo.

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Supervisor

AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY: &Žƌ ƚŚĞ ĐŽŽƌĚŝŶĂƚŝŽŶ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ĚĂLJͲƚŽͲĚĂLJ ŽƉĞƌĂƚŝŽŶĂů ĂĐƚŝǀŝƚŝĞƐ ǁŝƚŚŝŶ ƚŚĞ tĂƌĞŚŽƵƐĞ ǁŚŝůĞ ĂůůŽĐĂƚŝŶŐ ƌĞƐŽƵƌĐĞƐ ĨŽƌ ŵĂdžŝŵƵŵ ƉƌŽĚƵĐƚŝǀŝƚLJ͕ ĞŶƐƵƌŝŶŐ ƚŚĂƚ Ăůů ĐŽŶƚƌŽůƐ ĂƌĞ ŵŽŶŝƚŽƌĞĚ ĂŶĚ ĂĚŚĞƌĞĚ ƚŽ͘

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES Safety  Ensure all safety regulations are adhered to and where risk are identified, implement countermeasures to reduce and mitigate risks in the warehouse Warehouse Planning Ensure the right quantity and quality of resources are available to deliver at required service level for on time execution to include maintaining warehouse layout and  inventory plans Goods Movements Ensure all movements of goods internal and external are validated, recorded accurately and within the appropriate timeframe using required documents and the  Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system Inventory Management Ensure the company inventory policy is adhered to, coordinate periodic stock counts and conduct accurate stock reconciliations.  Asset and Equipment Management Ensure assets and equipment are available, fit for purpose, used correctly and maintained in accordance with preventive maintenance schedules.  Reporting Generate accurate daily, weekly and monthly reports, conduct appropriate analysis and communicate findings accordingly.



Organizational & People Management  Engage and motivate team members to deliver at their full potential. Participate in the full employment cycle.

Background / Experiences:  BSc, in Management, Logistics, Warehousing or Inventory Management  Minimum of three (3) years of experience in in Warehouse Management and Supervision  Adept the use of Microsoft Office applications Key Competencies:  Good communication and stakeholder management skills  Strong collaborator able to drive results through others  Ability to interact and communicate with multiple levels within the organization  Strong analytical skills and ability to interpret, report and communicate results  Proven track record in delivering to deadline and making decisions  Highly skilled in Microsoft Office Suite with emphasis on Excel, SharePoint and PowerPoint  Proactive and not afraid to challenge Interested applicants should apply submitting up to date CV’s with certified copies of relevant qualifications and three listed references as follows;

By E-mail preferred:

By Mail:

Email Titled “Warehouse Supervisor” recruitment@heinekensaintlucia.com “Warehouse Supervisor” Heineken Saint Lucia Limited P O Box 237, Vieux Fort

For further details on this employment opportunity, Visit our website at www.heinekensaintlucia.com Deadline for Submission is Monday June 7th 2021 Please note that only suitable applications will be acknowledged

Properties Officer The National Insurance Corporation is seeking to fill the position of Properties Officer.

SUMMARY OF DUTIES Reporting to the Director the Properties Officer is responsible for ensuring that NIC properties and equipment are adequately maintained and secured.

The successful candidate will be responsible for, inter alia liaising with the NIC’s property development and maintenance company NIPRO on matters relating to the properties of the NIC and its subsidiaries to ensure that facilities are well-cared for and adequate to support the group’s business operations. This entails ensuring the operational efficiency of electrical equipment and mechanical systems through timely inspection and repair as well as keeping the premises and facilities in clean and hygienic condition.

This would include inter alia: (i) Identifying matters requiring rectification; (ii) Communicating maintenance related matters and required projects to National Insurance Property Development and Management Company (NIPRO); (iii) Monitoring the repairs, installations and upkeep of various buildings, offices and other facilities (inclusive of budgets and expenses) and following up to ensure timely completion of projects (iv) Confirming and signing off on remedial work done or completion of projects by NIPRO or other service provider; (v) Investigating and resolving tenants concerns and complaints; (vi) Assessing and advising the Director on recommendations and proposals from NIPRO and other service providers; (vii) Developing and ensuring compliance with usage and safety policy in respect of all electrical fittings and equipment in office and make recommendations to ensure compliance with the relevant occupational health and safety provisions of the Labour Act and any other relevant authority.

(viii) Securing property by contracting with security service companies; installing and maintaining security devices; establishing and enforcing precautionary policies and procedures; responding to emergencies; KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES The successful candidate must have a working knowledge of interior building systems (electrical, mechanical, plumbing etc). He/she will be well-versed in all relevant maintenance processes and health and safety regulations.

The ideal candidate will also have aptitude in undertaking administrative tasks such as reporting, budgeting etc.

Additionally, he/she must a) b) c)

have the ability to negotiate contracts with outside vendors for execution of maintenance work be able to interpret visual instructions, such as blueprints and schematics. have good organizational, leadership and interpersonal skills;

QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE a) b)

A Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Project Management, Architecture, or related field.

At least five (5) years working experience in an equivalent position.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE: Applications containing a detailed Curriculum Vitae, certified copies of qualifications and two referees, should be addressed to: The Human Resource Manager Position of Properties Officer National Insurance Corporation Francis Compton Building Waterfront Castries Deadline for receipt of applications is June 7th, 2021 Please note that only suitable applications will be acknowledged.

COURT NOTICE IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES

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CHANCERY DIVISION Case number: PT-2020-001003

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IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR A DECLARATION OF THE PRESUMED DEATH OF MS CATHERINA RICHARDS Ms Iris Lawrence a surviving sister of Mr Peter James Smith who died on 2 April 2020 has made an application to the High Court to declare Ms Catherina Richards, formerly married to Mr Smith, be presumed deceased at midnight on 21 December 2011. Ms Richards lived with Mr Smith at 30 Cressington Close, Stoke Newington, London N16 8AN until their divorce on 4 August 2004. She was last known on this date. Any person having an interest may apply to the Court to intervene in this matter. If you wish to apply to the Court, you should do so at The, 7 Rolls Building, Holborn, London EC4A 1NL as soon as possible, and if possible within 21 days of the date of this notice. Delay may harm your prospects of being able to intervene. Please also contact the Claimant’s legal representative Geoffrey Goldkorn on 020 3427 5710 or gg@stokoepartnership.com quoting reference LAW037/001.

Stokoe Partnership Solicitors

Vieux Fort Industrial Estate Tel: (758) 454 6468 • Fax: (758) 4546280 Email: sales @toylnmfg.com • Tolynmfg@yahoo.com

Claimant’s Legal Representative 2nd Floor, 1-3 Staple Inn London WC1V 7QH”

MAY 31, 2021

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