NationWIDE THE OFFICIAL NEWS MAGAZINE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SAINT LUCIA NationTUESDAY JUNEWIDE 2, 2016 Elections 2016 Advance Poll Tomorrow! An Advance Poll will take place around the island tomorrow, ahead of the General Election Day on Monday. Voting on June 3 will be police officers, electoral staff and others whose n duties will be need for all of Monday. They will head to designated polling stations to cast their votes at the various polling divisions from 6.30am and the stations will remain open until 6.00pm. Thereafter, those who vote tomorrow will be deployed throughout Election Day on CDB Approves $25M Street Lighting Project - June 6 and their votes cast will be finally counted on June 7 at the said polling stations, in Page 2 the said Electoral District. Lists of Candidates for each constituency have been published, as well as Notices of Advance Poll and Grant of Poll. There will be a four-cornered fight in New Telephone System Will Save Taxpayers $2M - Micoud North and three-corner fights will take place in Gros Islet, Castries Central, Dennery Page 2 South and Soufriere, featuring mainly independents. There are six women contesting the poll this time around. But all in all, Monday will still be another big battle for the ballots between the two biggest parties, SLP and UWP. Each is claiming victory and both are hitting the hus- Jeannine Compton-Antoine Drops a Bombshell! - tings hard in this final home stretch to Polling Day. Saint Lucians are being called upon to Page 4 recognize that this is an important election for more reasons than one, including that the two parties are equally tied (at 8-8) in the number of elections each has won since Independence in 1979. But this is also an election about a choice between continuity and returning to the Over 700 Lucians Employed at Royalton - Page 9 starting point and a comparison of leadership based on record. On Monday, Saint Lucian voters will all have an equal chance to make that decision for family and country, putting na- More Local Hotels Win World Acclaim - Page 9 tion before self. So far, while platform offerings have been hot, the campaign has been quite peaceful – and the Police Commissioner urges it be kept that way (See Page 3). Likewise, Nationwide encourages all Saint Lucians to go out and vote on Monday and be part of the Saint Lucia Still Paying democratic process – and to make the right choice! In this special issue, Nationwide again Heavily for Operation features several pages of voting and other election related articles, including opinions and Restore Confidence! press releases supportive of both major parties (See Pages 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11 and 12). As always, - Pages 4 and 10 take time off to read and enjoy the information and images contained in the following pages -- then remember you can also watch NationwideTV on NTN and browse the Nationwide Website at stlucianationwide.com Happy Reading! Happy Viewing! Happy Browsing! WHAT’S INSIDE Page 2 NationWIDE Thursday June 2, 2016 CDB approves $25 Million street lighting project GOD IS EVERYWHERE AND FOR EVERYONE! leagues “murderers and baby killers” in the process. She could have taken a dif- ferent route and requested a conscience view and vote on the matter, as SLP Sena- tor Agatha Jn. Panel did in the Senate. She would then have been able to voice her disagreement with abortion and even vote against the criminal code on that basis, but without vilifying and insulting her colleagues. In- stead, she ganged-up with By Stephen Lester some of her religious friends and other opportunistic per- Prescott sons in opposition to her own government. n 2003, in the lead-up to After Sarah’s grossly in- The project will replace 21,587 street lights throughout the island with high efficiency LED lights. laying in Parliament of sulting characterization of Ithe Revised Criminal her Cabinet colleagues, her he project will replace total annual expenditure on approached the CDB for finan- Code – the most compre- position became untenable 21,587 street lights electricity. cial support. hensive law revision in St. and her continuation in the throughout the island It is anticipated that after re- He said the project is a key Lucia’s history – a member Cabinet had to be curtailed. T of the then Cabinet latched Somehow, in her mind with high efficiency LED lights. placement, government's an- component of government’s Saint Lucia has received ap- nual savings will be approxi- sustainable energy program; onto one section of the over though, Sarah thought she proval for a $25 Million (US$9.5 mately 60 percent or a little over and indicated that in addition to 1,000 sections of the code, could publicly “curse up” million) LED Street Lighting EC$6 million. making more revenue available breached Cabinet confiden- and insult her Cabinet col- Project that will replace all Therefore, government would for other purposes, the reduc- tiality and parliamentary leagues, and then return to street lights on the island with have fulfilled its promise to re- tion in energy demand will help protocol, and launched one Cabinet the following week energy-efficient ones. duce government expenditure Saint Lucia meet its obligation of the most indecent and vit- as if nothing had happened. The project, the first of its kind on electricity by 20 percent in under the Paris Climate Change riolic attacks ever witnessed However, her Cabinet col- in the Caribbean, will involve the Public Service well before Agreement, to reduce the pro- against her Cabinet and Par- leagues thought differently the replacement of 21,587 high- the 2020 target, via the LED duction of greenhouse gases. liamentary colleagues. and persuaded the Prime pressure-sodium and mercury- Street Lighting Project alone. He added that the Government That member chose to go Minister that such erratic, vapour street lights with high In addition to significant -fi of Saint Lucia has shown itself to to war on the so-called abor- insulting, intolerant and efficiency light-emitting diode nancial savings, the LED Street be a pioneer in sustainable en- tion clause which sought to untrustworthy behavior (LED) street lights. Lighting Project will reduce the ergy initiatives in the Caribbean clarify and enhance what had no place in a Cabinet of Currently, the Government of total quantity of oil imported and that his ministry is pleased was already law, by prescrib- St. Lucia. Saint Lucia spends over EC$11 into Saint Lucia and reduce to be associated with the project. ing the cases in which abor- So, Sarah was fired from million annually to illuminate overall national energy con- The Board of Directors of the tion was permissible. These the Cabinet because of a the island's roadways. sumption. Saint Lucia’s Energy Caribbean Development Bank were when the mother’s life/ breach of trust and a loss of This expenditure represents Minister Dr. James Fletcher con- (CDB) approved the project at a health was at risk, the un- confidence in her as a team over one third of government’s ceptualized the initiative and May 16 meeting. born child’s life/health at player. Later, she resigned CDB Funding approved to complete Dennery water project he Government of Saint Lucia has received ap- Tproval for funding from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) for the Dennery North Water Supply Improve- ment Project. The water improvement proj- ect aims to resolve the issues of poor water quality and an unre- The writer wants the former government minister to stop liable supply plaguing the east playing more Godly than all, as if she is the biggest Poto coast village. Legliz in Saint Lucia and wishes to see voters reject her at The Ministry of External Af- the polls to avoid repetition of past problems… fairs initially secured grant funding of $12.5 million (US$5 million) from the Government risk and when conception her seat in Parliament, caus- of Mexico. But the funding due to rape or incest. ing the ensuing bye-election fell short of the total amount The law revision also and the SLP to lose to Rich- required for a new water sup- The additional funding will allow for the completion of both stipulated that two doctors ard Frederick, who ran then ply and distribution system phases of the Dennery Water Supply Improvement Project. (instead of one under the as an Independent candi- that would meet the needs of previous law), had to inde- date, but with the support Dennery residents for the next pendently certify that any of the UWP Constituency 17 years. residents of Dennery North Thomazo water storage tank, of these conditions existed group (the UWP did not As a result, the Ministry of have had to suffer with poor a new transmission pipeline, before an abortion was law- contest the poll). During Sustainable Development re- water quality and one of the pipe connections to the exist- fully permissible. the bye election campaign quested the CDB's assistance most unreliable water supplies ing Morne Panache pumping It should be noted that and subsequently, she has and on May 16, the Board of on the island. station, and pipe connections to whether any of us agreed made pronouncements on Directors approved a project "To have played a part in fi- the Derniere Riviere distribu- with it or not, abortion was the godliness of Kenny An- request from the Government nally solving one of the most tion network. already legal before the re- thony and the Labour Party of Saint Lucia for the Dennery vexing water problems on the Like the Vieux Fort Water Sup- vised criminal code, but Government.