The St. Lucia We Do Not Want

By Sons and Daughters

AS You may or may not know, Sons and Daughters is a group that writes articles about the problems St. Lucia faces. One of the main reasons why the initiative was taken is that we have realized and felt the heavy burden of this country, and its dire need for change from top to bottom. We also understand that the silence of this country to speak up against wrong and weak policies, is at its strongest due to the matter of job security and also the fact of people being afraid to lose ‘theirs’ as a result of political affiliation.

A couple of articles later, with countless research and investigations concerning the affairs and projections of this country, we are saddened, embarrassed and disgusted to discover what our homeland has come to. The group has already written about many issues such as the alarming increase in unemployment, the pits our health sector has sunk to, the lack of urgency, even interest, in creating agriculture as an avenue of employment with its strength to boost the economy, and most importantly the negligence shown by government towards youth and their development.

In all of those issues, one of our major concerns is the continued starving of our people of their right to development, something which is slowly evolving into a sick mentality spreading among the citizens, through the backlash of the type of politics played by the so called leaders of our nation (rum shop politics).

Speaking of leaders of our nation, that brings us to another heart-breaking factor which we saw that is contributing to the downward spiral of sweet “Helen”. When we take a closer look at the people who run this country, we continue to be baffled by their policies, especially now that St. Lucia is at an all time high with people of all levels giving sensible suggestions on how to govern. On the bright side, this indicates that solutions are out there but what it also indicates is that the people we put in power have other ideas on their agenda that never seem to be beneficial to the people.

This group went on even further to investigate the characters and the accountability of our leaders. As months pass by and the problems of the country keep popping their heads up with no solutions to be offered by our leaders, but only high egos with the playing card of party politics and the abuse of power shown by them to anyone who opposes their way of handling situations, it has made us realize even more that accountability and transparency will always be words that they love to shout about but fail to live by.

Sons and Daughters decided after many discussions and research to take our findings and make them public through a series of ‘Is it true ‘ questions we believe the country must get answers to, and just a sense of duty in bringing knowledge to our people about the handling of affairs in St. Lucia and the decisions our leaders make with no accountability and transparency.

IS IT TRUE?????

 Is it true that guys in high position, who are supposed to be serving the people, are playing political games and abusing their power by sending threats to anyone who opposes them??

How can the President of the Senate be so boldly political even to a point where he comes out on television in such a threatening manner about issues he has with other politicians??

 Is it true through lack of development of our young people, there can be no better days or brighter ones when those same youth will have to be the ones to come out and pay back the debts of this country ??

How can that happen when the projections of growth of our people and our economy are plunging to the ground??

 Is it true that the track record of certain people within government is filled with cover ups of rape, fraud, women beaters and a whole bunch of empty vessels who are lost in the positions that they were appointed to ??

How can these people possibly relate to the cries of child abuse, rape, domestic abuse and the seriousness of poverty that exists in St. Lucia??

 Is it true the battle between local producers and import companies of the poultry industry is still being controlled by the import companies, and through the help of strong political influences locally they are fighting down the producers on the local market just to maximize their profits??

 Is it true that the tourist arrivals reflect more of visitors coming on cruise ships and yachts rather than land based stay over arrivals??

 Is it true that we have lost even more jobs in hotels such as Sandals and AnseChastanet which have laid off over 50 plus people??

 Is it true that Hewanorra airport will be leased to the Arabs for renovation purposes??

How can we even begin to think of such madness as leasing our borders, especially in the times the world is experiencing terrorism?? Have we become that desperate for infrastructural work to get done at all costs??

The list can go on and on with very troubling issues in this country and it is for us St. Lucians to educate ourselves and speak up on what is happening. We cannot continue to allow politicians to manipulate us and keep us in a country of silence. It is high time those leaders understand they work for the citizens of the country, and Sons and Daughters will continue to speak out and educate the public on affairs of the country.

Hope it has been an eye opener, and we will leave you with a quote by Martin Luther King junior: “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”