Friday, September 13, 2013

Saint Lucia and its Search for a Better Life

6 comments:

anthony said...

about time to

Anonymous said...

There is a very, very disturbing underlying theme of dependency that seems to underscore the tone and direction of almost all who aspire to be leaders of this country with respect to foreign relations.

We have seen the pervasiveness of the corruption engendered by the supposedly self-sufficiency approach that was part and parcel of the Guyanese model. Therefore, this is not being advocated here.

To date nonetheless, something absent in the political rhetoric of the leadership of all the political parties in Saint Lucia is a necessary delicate balance between self-determination and dependency from foreign countries. This has never been articulated nor attempted.

Saint Lucia is profligate in the production of politicians. Statesmen it has never had.

It is a sad commentary on our state of national development, that we have yet to see a leader emerge, who has the determination, the foresight and insight, combined with a coherent plan of action to take care of just about 170,000 people, carefully taking in stride, the developmental and social welfare requirements of the dependent age cohorts, namely, the very young, the very old, and of course too, the backbone of this economy, the working age population.

There is no learning. All that there is an inordinate focus on projects and programmes, normally characterized by having a beginning, a middle and an end, the end coinciding with our usual five-year election cycle.

Anonymous said...

Interesting Public Relations from the GIS or is it the GIS/VOICE Newspaper.

When was that new appointment made?

Has Jn. Pierre been dismissed or has she resigned?

All that crap written in that article is just that . Just crap. We cannot be fooled anymore.

These fellars are joining these wretched organizations to avoid the international scrutiny, the requirement of good governance and accountability in government.

They want to continue reaping off the Treasury, doing whatever the HELL they wish; with no one watching them; and pushing their citizens en masse; down the poverty line and begging escalating by the hour.

Just stop the bloody LIES, DECEPTION, CORRUPTION and TRICKERY.

We are bloody well fed-up.

Now you dare remove this from the blog.

Anonymous said...

7.49pm you are part of the problem, you fail to show the alternative to ALBA at this point in time. No wonder the rest of the world thinks that lucians are stupid. They fail to discuss policies. My question to you , are there benefits to be gain from ALBA ?

Anonymous said...

It is self-deception to ever arrive at the conclusion that by simply joining such external bodies, ipso facto, Saint Lucians are going to get a "better life".

What is missing from such mindless and ridiculously shallow thinking is any acknowledgement, or appreciation of the absorptive capacity of this nation's population, to receive certain kinds of FDI in the form of joint ventures and strategic alliances.

Our economic development policies to date, still reek of a variant of economic prostitution.

We provide the environment. Come take advantage of it.

To underscore our willingness, we will even charge a higher rate of taxation on the operations of our local businesspersons.

To date, NO administration -- past and present -- has made any concerted attempt, or has shown any awareness of the need to prepare Saint Lucians in terms of human capital formation, to better absorb FDI or overseas expansion.

Trinidad did.

See how CLICO, Neal and Massey, and the like, galloped through the CARICOM region -- sometimes with extensive and devastating destruction of capital?

Oh yes! Locally, we continue to hear ad nauseam, the empty rhetoric surrounding the desire for increases in investment. But has any of the leaders of the political parties -- not necessarily leaders of this country, mind you, granted the self-inflicted curse of partisan/tribal politics -- shown any acquaintance with what is necessary for anything other than crowding the ribbon of land skirting the edges of this country, with anything but foreign-owned hotel properties? Hey! We are even giving away -- literally -- title to our patrimony in the process!

Key question: Isn't it that our school/education system, and the politicians in particular, are somewhat blindly, but still hell-bent on graduating candidates --- in large part --- for entry-level-type vendor, hotel maid, and bell-hop job positions for the economy?

Question: Is this how governments ought to take care of a still burgeoning and youthful workforce demographic?

Anonymous said...

Some useful research data up there Micah.