Skip to main content

' the Piton's'





 

Ran away to the beautiful island of St Lucia for a couple days. One can never tire looking at the Pitons. The days spent in St Lucia and how the people view tourism tells you how far away we are from even starting to create a real sustainable tourism industry here in T&T. But of course as usual it's not rocket science it's the simple will to understand the economic benefits and put the industry high on the agenda.
A couple things that I noticed on my trip. First, the immediate past PM of St. Lucia was on the out bound flight, he travelled by himself, toted his own bags, sat in the very back of the aircraft and on arrival he stood in line with everyone else. On a field trip yesterday my taxi had to pull to the side of the road as an official motorcade of SLG registered vehicles flew past us, with two ambulances as part of the entourage. This happened coming and going. The contrast was epic. The official entourage did nothing to impress any international visitor and my taxi driver just mumbled, 'why deh en tek d helicopter'.  
The name 'Hewanorra,' (the international airport in St. Lucia) is an Amerindian word meaning- the land of the iguanas. Strangely enough the land of the iguanas is no more, as the native St Lucia reptiles are now seriously endangered, near extinction. We still have four months of unregulated hunting, BAN HUNTING.

And so the ferry fiasco continues unabated, and so it should. The Joint Select Committee of the Parliament will look at all aspects of the current ferry situation.  Finally our democracy is coming of age where the Parliament will look into issues of public expenditure, procurement and the process. We can only await the outcome of this particular issue.
In the meantime the businesses in Tobago continue to reel under a debt load that would have been catered for by a successful August tourism season. This did not happen and unless things are put into place immediately the next season will fail and that would probably be the death knell for Tobago and it's tourism. No amount of officialdom, similar to the St Lucia motorcade, will save the private investors in the Tobago economy. To further compound the matter if it is that Central Government is lamenting the fact that it is struggling to meet payroll then it is highly unlikely that it is in a position to lend any support to Tobago business.

We are coming up to this administration's two year anniversary.  Can we start listing what exactly has this government done. I am not talking about what we expect any government to do, fixing potholes and providing potable water amongst a hundred other things.

  • What about the new initiatives to grow the economy
  • New ways of dealing with crime and the elimination of the narco state
  •  Maintaining the investment grade of the economy
  •  Direct foreign investment 
  • Local investment
  • Pursuing the corrupt deals and bringing people before the courts 
  • Jobs created
  • Reduction in the food import bill
  • Overhaul of the health sector and the efficient provision of health services
  • Fixing all the ills of the education system


That should be a good start for the first 24 months work. As soon as we can deal with what exactly did we achieve then of course we move on to the next 24 months and the continued fix. Let us be factual, if we did achieve a positive result then lets say so, if not give them a 'fail' grade.

Returning to the rock this evening as we were about to disembark an announcement that we were required to sit in any seat available as the cabin crew forgot to spray the aircraft. This process is known as ' disinfection' which is carried out either by spraying whilst passengers are onboard or though the residual method without passengers. Guyana, Grenada and T&T are the only Caribbean countries that require the spraying of the aircraft cabins whilst passengers are onboard. There are thirteen international destinations that still require this method of 'disinfection'. A good question would be is this still necessary?

No Cabinet media conference this afternoon means that there was nothing of import to report. On this rock, I doubt that!

Good night and good luck!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Delta 4 over and out!

Sitting here in Maraval tonight its very windy with the electrical power dipping every now and again. From all reports the storm has gone to the north and the island of Trinidad is OK. Tobago however could be in for a rough patch. The Tropical Storm, now named Bret, is the second for the season and was formed very low in the Atlantic and threatened both Trinidad and Tobago. The last time a hurricane was named Bret was in August, 1999. It was a category 4 hurricane that thankfully did not prove to be that destructive with minimum fatalities and physical damage to property. Of course I marvel at the officialdom in T&T. Today, the party boats were out sailing to wherever. The island is under a storm watch and nobody thought it wise to restrict non-essential marine traffic. The Tobago ferries were restricted, the offshore oil and gas platforms were being evacuated and we were at the same time loading 'feters' to go on a party cruise. What exactly is the protocol? If a storm e...
Post a Comment
Read more

ADD

A great thing happened today. I washed my car and it did not rain. OK, so other absolutely great things made history today, I am sure something was discovered that will change mankind, decisions by world leaders for world peace. None of that is of interest to me because the simple task of washing my car was what was of great import and I marvelled at the sun and dry weather. It is the little things in ones life that give the greatest joy. Tomorrow should be the same with a prediction of only 20% precipitation. Two days with a clean car is good. I am one of those who curse WASA who has leaks on the main roads with spray flying all around and dirtying up my clean car. WASA should have zero leaks, that should be WASA's goal, I don't think that they are interested in any of this as the leaks continue and the complaints from the citizens continue. I remember in the Manifesto of the ruling party a commitment was made to increase the truck delivery of truck borne water. Go figure! ...
Post a Comment
Read more

'spinning top in mud'

It's a dark and stormy night here in the Maraval Valley. Hearing thunder in the distance, heavy drizzle, wind, cool temperature. The small 'Bajan' frogs are revving tonight creating a racket. I guess it's the rainy season and this is what you get. It is now one week since Tropical Storm Bret came over the island and for many people things have not yet gotten back to normal. Reading one of the weekly columnists today writing about his growing up in a flood prone area and basically the family taking it in their stride every rainy season. He commented on the fact that his father knew where they were living and never blamed the authorities or demanded from the authorities any compensation for the losses suffered as a result of the annual floods. It is different now and demands are made for every 'big toe bounce'  and it seems that no one takes responsibility for their lot in life. Not sure where this came from but there has to be a line as to how far a government c...
Post a Comment
Read more