Former Parliamentary Representative of Soufriere/Fond St. Jacques Senator Herod Stanislas Responds to Hon. Emma Hippolyte

20th February 2022

By UWP Facebook page

On Feb 1, 2022, Honourable Emma Hippolyte under Ministers Statement in the House of Assembly chose to join the band wagon of engaging in scoring cheap political points, clearly an affront to her years of maturity and supposed wisdom.

The malicious intent of her declarations was clearly deliberate and targeted to undermine, create doubt and mislead the public by putting falsehoods forward dressed in the language of half-truths.

Instead of subjugating her political ego and using the allotted time given to Ministers of Government, to speak on her various portfolios matters, to address the rising inflation affecting every citizen at this present time, the Honourable Member for Soufriere/Fond St. Jacques took the opportunity to make a myriad of fallacious claims calculated to malign the Soufriere Regional Development Foundation (SRDF).

On July 26, 2021 the people spoke and voted in an SLP Government. It is over six months now; I have respectfully sat back and allowed the business of the Soufriere/Fond St. Jacques Constituency to go on without any interference whatsoever, thereby giving the duly elected member a chance to govern. However, I believe it is of critical importance to correct and edify the wider public on the deliberate and misleading comments made by Ms. Hippolyte.

Firstly, on June 6, 2016, when I became the District Representative for Soufriere/Fond St. Jacques, the issues, problems and challenges which I inherited were insurmountable. So, what did I do? I did not dwell on my difficulties; I did not seek excuses - because I had a collective vision which I shared with the people of Soufriere/Fond St. Jacque in advancing their development. I had work to do! And so, I got busy with the people's agenda as I had promised them. It is therefore no surprise that we were able to achieve so much within such a short space of time.

The Member for Soufriere/Fond St. Jacques must stop pandering to the politics of fear and doubt and focus on addressing the issues of the uncertainty of governance and leadership in Soufriere. I wish to remind Ms. Hippolyte that the effort to strive for truth has to precede all other efforts and that the only justifiable purpose of political institutions is to ensure the unhindered development of the people we seek to represent.

Ms. Hippolyte indicated that the SRDF lost all credibility and respect under the former Administration. I begged to ask Ms. Hippolyte: how did the SRDF lose all credibility under the UWP Administration when it was under the UWP (2018) that the organization was ranked and awarded #1 for Site Operations of its Sulphur Springs Park in the entire Caribbean?

Ms. Hippolyte indicated that the Organization is in a financial crisis. I would like to remind Ms. Hippolyte that the SRDF is a tourism-based organization. I believe it’s mischievous to deliberately avoid speaking of any reference to the realities of COVID's negative effects on the SRDF's income generating ability.

She failed to acknowledge the damage that the pandemic caused globally to businesses especially tourism dependent businesses. It is well known that 100% of the SRDF's income is derived from tourism and approximately 75% of that income comes from cruise tourism. That sector was impacted most by the pandemic and only showed signs of recovery in October 2021 - after being virtually dead with little or no cruise visits to St. Lucia since April 2020. The SRDF's income plummeted from approximately $9.1 million in 2019 to $1.9 million in 2020.

We ask Ms. Hippolyte, how many Site Operators, Hotels or Tourism related businesses in St. Lucia did not face a financial crisis since COVID 19 rocked the St. Lucian Economy? Many of those entities have gone completely out of business mindful that some never to recover.

The organization, like any other, was not spared the fiscal ravages of the pandemic. But it was the SRDF's good name and trusted capacity that ensured its survival under the economic fallout of Covid-19.

Arrangements had been made by the previous Board and management to settle any payments that were outstanding, in time. Ms. Hippolyte’s listing of them in parliament was calculated and spiteful. Indeed as Albert Einstein reminds us, it is harder to crack political prejudice than an atom.

Ms. Hippolyte mentioned of a demoralized workforce and complained of over 200 employees with a large portion appointed a few months before the last election. This is a very devious statement from someone who claims to put people first. Additionally, it is important to note that the 200 jobs allow the people of Soufriere to find work within their community and not have to venture to Vieux Fort or Castries, like residents from the other 16 constituencies. Indeed a proud record and achievement of the vision and leadership of the UWP administration.

I wish to remind Ms. Hippolyte that the SRDF is a non-for-profit entity established by the people of Soufriere to promote, encourage, support, facilitate and coordinate local development. We wished more persons would be employed by the organization to curtail unemployment within the constituency. The reality is that the SRDF created more than 70 full time jobs between July 2016 and the advent of the pandemic in March 2020. Any claims of employment during the throes of the pandemic are starkly untrue. The official record will easily refute this false allegation!

It's a blatant untruth to speak to the hiring of staff just before elections when the last few SRDF staff were hired in 2019 for the manning of the Soufriere Beach Park, the Colombette View Point and the New Pools at the Sulphur Springs Park.

I wish to remind Ms. Hippolyte that the SRDF became most demoralized under this new SLP Administration. With thousands of visitors accessing the SRDF sites, the staff have frustratingly not been allowed to work for an entire month - resulting in multiple resignations.

It is also a travesty that in a time when the SRDF had already weathered the COVID-19 storm and with the complete reopening of our borders in July 2021, this new board decided to send almost 30 staff member’s home most of which are single mothers and already struggling young men. There's no guessing that those staff members were known supporters of the UWP. Truth of the matter is, they had been forewarned by Harold Dalsan on the 2021 political platform that; "Elections have consequences!" Clearly, by this action, Ms. Hippolyte firmly endorses Mr. Dalsan’s political conviction of VICTIMIZATION!

Additionally, it is worthy of mention that the SRDF lost all credibility when the Labour Party installed its political crony, a former MP and Minister as CEO during the last SLP board’s tenure. That was when the Labour politics came into full play, drawing the political line in the sand, which led to abuse of political power and influence, victimization and staff demoralization became rampant and institutionalized, by a chief proponent of the philosophy of the SLP’s ‘Affirmative Action Doctrine’.

I wish to place on record that I am proud of the previous SRDF Board to have kept the entire staff workforce - giving them the ability to feed their families while the SRDF was gravely hampered as a result of the impacts of Covid 19. This took place while all hotels and tourism related businesses were cutting off their staff and sending them home, permanently! Even during that period, the SRDF, refused to lay-off or dismiss its 200 plus staff and decided to implement a staff rotation plan sharing the little that was available to all. Inexplicably, this staff rotation plan is still in effect today.

Ms. Hippolyte made a disingenuous comment on the matter of an account named Staff Gratuity Fund at the SRDF. The allegations that there was such an account with $1.6 million are false and we challenge Ms. Hippolyte to provide the evidence to support her claim.

Ms. Hippolyte’s complaint of the cleaning of lands at Fond St. Jacques for over $500,000.00 is rather strange. I am extremely proud of working with the SRDF to have achieved this exercise at such a low cost. Lest we forget, the people of Fond St. Jacques whom the SLP claims to love so much, suffered for ten (10) long years because they were not able to access their farms. The Forestry Department suffered; our tourism sector suffered because visitors were no longer able to drive to the Edmund Forest. The then SLP District Representative, Dalsan said that; “It was too expensive an undertaking! It would cost over a Million dollars. And so, the costs/benefits were not commensurate or made good business sense!” Can you believe this? The livelihoods of the people that they professed to love so much. If this is putting people first, then, as we already knew, the SLP lacks compassion, love, kindness and care for people.

Ms. Hippolyte criticized the ‘Renovation to the Soufriere Police Station’. I beg to ask Ms. Hippolyte whether she was interested enough to recall the condition of the Soufriere Police Station which was not conducive for our law enforcement prior to 2016? Did she care enough back then to know of sickouts and the several inappropriate, alternate accommodations that had to be obtained for the hardworking law men and women?

The SRDF begrudgingly acceded to renovating the Soufriere Police Station due to the delinquency of the previous SLP appointed SRDF Board. In 2016, the government of St. Lucia was owed over $2 Million in Sulphur Springs Emphyteutic Lease Fees by the SLP Board. The works at the Police Station were in exchange for the amounts owed. Today, the Soufriere Police Station Quarters is the envy of most and one of the best on Island. Evidently, this arrangement saved the organization hundreds of thousands of dollars (otherwise payable to the government of St. Lucia) as a result of the fiscal irresponsibility of a previous SLP appointed board!

In Ms. Hippolyte’s callous statement of lots of questionable projects, perhaps, we should commence a topic on questionable projects. What did we inherit in 2016? In 2016, the UWP Administration inherited a totally dilapidated Sulphur Springs Park, all jetties were falling apart and the gift of three lawsuits due to accidents resulting in major injuries to visitors - all because of neglected and unmaintained sites under the SLP; Directors being awarded preferred contracts while the staff and people of Soufriere suffered; $65,000.00 for 10 meters of the Road in front of the CEO’s house (Wingsville, Soufriere) while the other road section was left undone; Transportation contracts to SRDF Board directors at exorbitant rates; Monthly questionable contracts to staunch SLP supporters; A prominent SLP businessman receiving $3,000.00 monthly for undisclosed consultancy, $1.5 Million spent on Soufriere Kweyole Jazz; Excessive debts owed to the SRDF by current and past board members; And many many more.

In an attempt to gush undeserved praise unto a mere 6-month old SLP appointed board, Ms Hippolyte must be honest to report that the claims of achievements are ongoing initiatives by the former board and UWP administration; And not, by any means, new undertakings.

Ms. Hippolyte speaks of the Installation of the Tidal Wave Monitoring System but she should know that this is an ongoing island wide project from the former administration under the Disaster Vulnerability Reduction Project (DVRP).

The claim of the establishment of Port Health in Soufriere was accomplished by the previous Board with collaboration with Environmental Health, SLASPA and Immigration under the guidance of Ministry of Tourism.

Ms. Hippolyte should have known that the Security Staff Fire Arm Training is routine. This initiative was established under the UWP, the SRDF funded several fire arm training sessions for relevant management and security staff. This was perfectly tailored to save the organization thousands of dollars and also reduced the reliance on external security. At no time was ANY director a part of this costly exercise. However, we see today, the SRDF is now encouraging wastage by paying for firearms training for board members who are clearly in the financial position to pay privately for their own training.

So, we ask; What new initiative or initiatives that the new board has taken to generate the funds to meet its financial obligations? Isn’t it that the SRDF is now in a better financial position due to the economic improvements in the St. Lucian tourism industry and the reaping of fruits from the hard work of the previous board, all owing to the UWP Government’s brilliant management of the COVID-19 Pandemic?

In conclusion, I am extremely proud of what we achieved in a mere three years Pre-Covid with the substantial contribution of the SRDF. We ensured that the SRDF delivered on its mandate and contribute significantly with the holistic development of the people of Soufriere/Fond St. Jacques. Some of the SRDF’s contributions to community social development and other achievements included:

➢ In 2017 at an annual award presentation ceremony, the Soufriere Foundation received the award for Community Benefit. This most prestigious award was presented by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)

➢ Education Development initiatives in the form of student scholarships at various levels including SALCC, school transport, school book program, school graduations, funding of school sports for District 8, school awards ceremonies etc

➢ Assistance to Youth and Sports clubs in Soufriere and Fond St. Jacques

➢ Investment in Cultural Events such as carnival after an eight-year hiatus, re-launch of L’essence Soufriere. Arts and Culture financial support to Soufriere Action Theatre (SAT)

➢ Support to Community Development Committees such as Fond St. Jacques,
Chateau Belair, Belfond and Fond Ges Libre, to name a few

➢ Medical Assistance to residents and Support to Fire Victims

➢ Investment in Community Infrastructure

➢ Collaborative initiatives with the Constituency Council, the SMMA and other agencies

➢ Soufriere FM Media collaboration and outreach to bring Live events to the residents such as Sunday Mass, Community Activities, etc

We are contented in knowing that it was under the UWP Administration that the SRDF came to life with its achievements in the completion of several key undertakings in the development of the Soufriere/Fond St. Jacques Constituency.

I implore the Member of Parliament for Soufriere/Fond St. Jacques to mollify the daily cries which consistently come my way from the people of our beloved town. I have not uttered a word, but they have consistently chanted; "See Herod tay lah!"

I call on the District Representative to deliver on the countless promises she and the SLP made to the people of Soufriere/Fond St. Jacques. My advice to Emma Hippolyte is simple; “Get to work. For you do not have much time left!

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