Press release st lucia squanders $200,000 and more

1. Upstairs AF Valmont,
P.O. Box RB 2497,
Rodney Bay,
Gros Islet, Saint Lucia
Tel/Fax: (758) 572-4949
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Oswald Augustin - 484-8888 or Elijah Anatole - 723-0809
E C$200,000 go up in Flames in New York Labour Day Celebrations
Castries, Saint Lucia 25 September, 2013 As Saint Lucians reel under
economic pressure to meet their financial commitments, the Saint Lucia Labour
Party Government continues to disregard the cries of the people by showing no
mercy in the manner in which they persist in spending lavishly on events that have
no real benefits for Saint Lucians and the economy.
One would have thought that the Minister for Finance would have recognized the
need to spend the Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of the country in a manner that
would bring solace to the people of the country. It is already very difficult for
citizens to pay 15% VAT during a time that the local economy is comatose, and to
spend that money on frivolity is indeed double jeopardy for all of us.
Earlier this month, the Ministry for Creative Industries with an entourage
consisting of Ministry officials and artistes spent a whopping E C$200,000 to
attend Labour Day celebrations in New York and an additional E C$30,000 on a
truck, presumably to market St Lucia to St Lucians in the Diaspora and the rest of
the world.
This effort put on by the Ministry was a complete failure and is another example of
wastage on the part of this Government. Whilst elderly citizens struggle to pay
VAT on medication and families suffer as they strive to take care of their children,
the Government continues to display its uncaring ways by spending tax payers
money without due care to alleviate the plight of those people who are crippled by
the implementation of their policies.

2. The Kenny Anthony Administration has displayed that it is bereft of ideas to
stimulate the local economy E C$200,000.00
to save a few small businesses (instead of blaming the closure of small businesses
entirely on the owners and operators
the cost of medication for poor elderly people? We therefore call on the Minister
of Finance and, in particular, the Minister for Creative Industries to account for the
E C$200,000.00 and more that was spent on the New York Labour Day Promotion
fiasco.
Ends/