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Fellow St. Lucians, but in particular my People of Micoud South Constituency
viz, TiRocher, La Courville, Pais Bush, Dugard, AnseGer, Desruisseaux, Blanchard
and Chic.
SINCERE GREETINGS TO ALL OF YOU
I wish to thank you once again for electing me as your Parliamentary
Representative and to give me yet another opportunity to Address you during this
Christmas Season.
The Christmas Season is upon us once again.
[In Creole: The Christmas Season is upon us once again and it is now two years
since you elected me to represent you in Parliament].
It is now two years since you elected me to represent you in Parliament.
Conditions have change for many of you and your family. Not for the better but
for the worse.
[In Creole: Things are hard and seem to becoming even harder, day-by-day.]
There is less money to spend to buy the things you need; to feed your family
properly; to send your children to school, to buy the books and to pay
transportation for them; to pay your monthly bills for electricity, telephone
and water; to pay for medicine that some of you require every month. Too many of
you have been forced to ‘give up’ the only means of earning the money you
needed. That meant you had to abandon your banana fields, even before finding
something else to do.
[In Creole: Today we do not have the bananas to sell and do not have any other
crop to take its place. So we do not have enough money for us to feed our
families properly; for us to buy books and pay transport to send our children to
school; to pay our monthly bills and to buy the medicine which some of us need
every month in order to stay alive.]
Talking about ‘Water’ WASCO seems to show no regard or concern for the people of
the Micoud South Constituency. Our ‘water system is in a terrible state and
needs immediate attention.
[In Creole: Our ‘water system’ is in a very bad state and WASCO does not seem to
care at all about us, the people. It appears that the only concern is to send us
a bill, whether we get water or not.]
The water supply is very inadequate, unsafe in its present storage site and
unsafe to drink, especially whenever it rains. For over 18 months we have
suffered for lack of water. It has taken WASCO that long to try and replace a
tank that it promised would be replaced in six - eight weeks. That was since
April 2002. It seems that yet another year will be upon us before this can be
done.
I have written to the company, have our concerns published in the Newspaper and
also expressed on television, but the situation remains the same. Why? What is
QWASCO thinking? Isn’t Water Life?
I know many of you have difficulty in buying your medicines. This is
particularly so with the unemployed and elderly.
I have personally witnessed some of you buying tablets and paying your bills by
instalment. This is sad, health wise, because some persons never get to take the
required dosages. In doing so, they lessen their chances of getting well. We
need to establish a system that will assist our people to get adequate health
care. ‘A healthy people is a wealthy nation.’
[In Creole: We need a health system that will enable us to keep our people
healthy and alive]
Our roads generally are in a horrible state. Not even a patch has been put on
several of them for over seven years now. As a result I have had to undertake to
fill in some of the craters that were left behind on The Dugard Road, The
TiRocher La Couville Road, The Desruisseaux/Vigier Road; The Chic/Morne Vand
Road; The Fond Bois Pain Road. But the rains have destroyed these again because
of the hills not being pitched.
[In Creole: Most of our roads have been left abandoned. We need assistance to
repair them. Some pitched potholing will give us some relief.]
But we have had some bright moments as well.
We have had some hope for the future.
We were able to get some relief on the Delomel Road,
The Moreau Road, The Vavot Road in Calypso, The Chucumel Road and the Calypso/Decatierre
Road, The Desruisseaux Main Road has had its share of Potholing as well.
We have undertaken the upgrading of the Desruisseaux Playing Field through
concrete drainages and have almost completed the fixing of the La Courville
Community Centre.
We have been able to mark the Speed bumps and crossings near the schools to help
with the safety of our school children.
We have been able to organize some sporting activities and competition for our
young people and now are in the process of trying to establish a ‘Learning
Centre’ to help with a ‘Continuing Education Programme’ for them.
We have assisted some of the AnseGer Young Men to be able to fish legally during
the dry season with the relief that they do not have to run away form the
authorities.
We have been able to help some of the underprivileged and elderly with the
repair of their houses. We also give them food packages during the festive
season.
We have helped several constituents to repair their bye-roads, by providing them
with quarry waste material and they provide the labour.
We have continued to try and expand electricity and lighting within the
Constituency on a gradual basis.
We have established the ‘Fond Francis’ Recreation Park near the Canneles River
and Vigier Bridge. We are now in the process of beautifying it. The Desruisseaux
Vigier Bridge was also reconstructed, making it easier to move from one point to
the other.
We continue as far as possible to provide help for needy students, persons and
groups within the Constituency. By God’s Grace we will continue to strive to
achieve more as time goes by.
The people of Micoud South need to be gainfully employed. They need an improved
and better way of life.
They need to see a revival of the economy and a definite decrease in the rate of
crime. They have seen better times and are confident that their situation in
life can again be comfortable. They have always made and are willing to make the
sacrifice to work hard to achieve for themselves.
Le me take this opportunity to wish all my people of Micoud South, my immediate
family, friends here and abroad, U.W.P. supporters, The Executive of the Party,
All Fellow St. Lucians here and abroad, A Joyous Christmas, A Crime Free
Christmas Season and A Bright and Improved New Year.
May the Good Lord shower His Blessings upon all of us so as to give Everyone of
Us The Will and The Courage to Strive to make St. Lucia a Better and Affordable
Place to Live in.
LA BONNE NOEL API JOU BLANC TOUT MONE`
I THANK YOU ALL.
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