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Prime Minister Stephenson King and wife Rosella at the Independence Day Parade. The PM’s press secretary said the late start of the event was no fault of the PM.
On behalf of the Government of Saint Lucia, I respond to an article carried in last weekend’s issue of the STAR newspaper. The article written by Maryanna Williams in the February 27th, 2010 issue of the STAR was headlined: “When Lateness is Rudeness”. The sad fact is that article, while pregnant with mischief, falls short in its delivery, due to a gross and shameful mis-carriage of truth and facts.
It is clear that the writer of this article relied only on what was manifested during the Independence Military Parade.
Ms Williams’ article begins by pointing to a seeming “uncertainty” in relation to the staging of the annual National Youth Rally. For the records (and this has been stated publicly before), it must be made clear that Prime Minister King issued clear directives to proceed with the planning of the rally in question. Whenever programmes approved by Cabinet have exceeded budgetary allocations, there are standard mechanisms within the central Government financial system to facilitate implementation of these programmes. The announcement of the cancellation of the Youth Rally was therefore not reflective of the Prime Minister and Government’s intent. Prime Minister King immediately expressed his objection to this announcement and directed that the rally take place, as it was felt that the Youth Rally has become a permanent fixture in the calendar of Saint Lucia’s Independence celebrations. The Prime Minister has since ordered an investigation into the details related to the planning of the Independence activities this year and in particular the circumstances pertaining to the decision to cancel the National Youth Rally.
If the writer took time to observe the basic tenets of Journalism—basic research—she would come out armed with the truthful account of what transpired in relation to the appearances of both the Prime Minister and Governor General at the Independence Day Military Parade. The writer makes the following pronouncement in the February 27th article: “It was not the fault of her Excellency, Dame Pearlette Louisy, whose official appearance is an indication that proceedings are about to start. She was just outside the venue at the appointed time but unable to make her official entrance protocol not permitting”. This account is far from the truth and what transpired.
The absolute truth is that Prime Minister King along with his wife left their residents at 7:35 on Independence morning for the La Clery Playing Field to attend the scheduled Independence events. The Military Parade, the first of two events at that venue for the day was due to begin at 8am. On their way to the Military Parade, a call was received by the Prime Minister’s security detail requesting that they delay their arrival since arrangements at the venue were not completed. Apparently transportation arrangements for the two platoons of police officers from the La Toc Training School had not worked out as planned. The Prime Minister’s contingent immediately traveled to the Official Residence, where they were joined by the Governor General. The Governor General had clearly picked up the delay advice as well hence her arrival at the temporary holding venue.
The Prime Minister was not the only official held up on account of organizational glitches. A number of dignitaries from the Diplomatic Corps, were harboured in their vehicles near the venue of the parade, under the advice of Government protocol staff, pending the completion of arrangements including the placement of chairs. Now we get a real picture of the source of tardiness and indiscipline. This speaks to a deeper problem with respect to national pride, individual discipline and patriotic spirit. That lack of individual discipline perhaps explains why a Maryanna Williams would fall for sensationalism and neglect the need to research so as to establish the untarnished truth. That basic exercise by Ms Williams would establish the following facts:
That the National Youth Rally was not scheduled to be the first event of that day and as such was not down to begin at 8am. The first event for the day was in fact, the Independence Military Parade.
The Governor General was not “just outside the venue at the appointed time”. She had been alerted of the un-preparedness, just like the Prime Minister and therefore diverted to the PM’s Official Residence.
That the arrivals of the both the Prime Minister and the Governor General were managed by the Organizers of the event.
That the late commencement of both the Independence Military Parade and the National Youth Rally was no fault of either the Prime Minister or the Governor General.
Now should we categorize Maryanna Williams’ misguided charade as “rudeness” or “indisciplined” journalism? Our children need to be led by the example of good and principled journalistic practice and not fed by narrow sensationalism. Now over to you Ms Williams, we await your apology!
RSS
Any apology even if due ,would be meaningless in this instance, as the author/journalist is by all accounts anonymous; how any serious journalist can get away with this is baffling; such person can only be held to account if they are visible and their own integrity or independence of thought can be ascertained and evaluated . A country that takes itself seriously would not permit such a state of affairs to persist.
Apologies requires a certain level of personal commitment, sincerity and engagement, a removing of the veil as it were , baring yourself to those to whom you seek to apologise; how can ones humility be engaged if ones identity is not !
If one has wronged someone else to proceed to apologise without revealing who you are is in the world of the sane simply ridiculous!
What a massive ego this “journalist” or more aptly this “commentator” must have to even consider this sort of approach to journalism what have they got to hide. The criticism of the need for investigative journalism in St. Lucia rings true, at the very least St. Lucian Journalist should display a minimum level of sophistication in their journalistic endeavours, otherwise stop calling themselves journalist and find some other suitable term such as… well on second thoughts I’d leave that up to them to decide.
Few it any, well perhaps one or two such journalist do make an effort the others appear to be confused as to their actual role in a democracy being a journalist is more than just a job it is a way of life a paradigm
The powerful and strong never need an apology, just their very presence and confidence renders all that political correct social idiosyncrasy a waste of time, not needed. The strength of a person is in them knowing themselves so well that they are unaffected by other people’s opinions or that of public perception. So far only Sir John Compton comes to mind.
Always two sides to a story eh! In this regard then, MaryAnna should have done her research. But her article spoke of regular tardiness by the PM and other officials. So is that untrue as well?
Mr Darnley Labourne: “THAT’S BALONEY!!!”
Just typical of you passing the buck.
It is nice to see a response to Maryanna article, but this explanation and appology should have been provided by the PM at the start of the independence day ceremony. The PM was still rude and uncouth. For an event of national significance as independence day parade the author is comfortable making the statements that there were transportation problems and the seating was not arranged in time. Should these thing not be addressed and double checked well ahead of the start of the ceremony? Bottom line, the buck stops for the arrangement of the national ceremony at the PM office. It reflects on his staff yes, but ultimately on him. Yes it is the PM fault (indirectly, but still his fault).
In relation to Maryanna, quite frankly I do not read her articles, simply because more than half of what is written is either untrue or grossly prejudice. So I am not surprise that what she wrote was inaccurate. I will admit that she was right in stating that the PM was improper in not appologizing for his tardiness and for the late start of the ceremony. But as said before her details is wrong as usual.
Mr Lebourne I do agree with you that when accusations are made one should be armed with the truth,however your explanation does not suffice for the PM’s constant tardiness at various functions on a number of occasions example,sitting of the house,budget addresses,even sod turning ceremonies………..to name a few. In my humble opinion i belive your time and efforts should be directed at aiding the PM with his “EVIDENT” tardiness problem so in future you would not be his defence mechanism when such allegations are made.
BON says;apology for what?
well well Darnley!!! WELL done . I expected no better from you excuses excuses excuses!!! no wonder the indiscipline has spread to the organizers because when you are in Rome you do as the romans do isn’t that so?
Ok Mr P M, i am truly sorry for dragging your name through the gutter. I will keep my bile trained on Kenny. Sorry!
wow…..the power of free press!:(
Ok Mr Prime Minister…for too long this Maryanna and the Star has been protecting you and your administration for all your shortcomings and faux-pas. Now she’s tired of you and you are in her sights. How dare you demand an apology for what every Tom, Dick and Harry already know. . Since she is a phantom…be aware that you should not vex her…remember there no match for the wrath of a woman. The calm is over UWP’s …here comes the storm.
When you think about it, an apology is really a dumb thing to do. A worthless consolation meant to bring peace. It simply is a medal worn by most bullies who bash their victims to cry out a form of “uncle”. Rarely are apologies genuine, and this is because one cannot be sorry for speaking their truth, you may alter it latter with more facts, but no apology needed. In this case the PM needs all the support he can muster to appear genuine in his leadership. He is trying to create an image of how he would want you to see him, but that is a waste of time. You are what you are. If you like being late at the party so what. As long as you are doing a good job.
Mr Lebourne, I must admit you are doing a good job as press secretary. Kudos to you sir. First of all, however, You failed to address the pressing problem; that of constant tardiness, which is inherent in not just St. Lucians but Caribbean people. This was the major issue of the article, so your desire for an apology on this one incident (where the PM may or may not have had a valid reason for his tardiness) which the author decided to elaborate on does not deflect from the obvious. That the PM is constantly late!.. Nice Try though. It is also weird that you never demanded an apology when previous “irresponsible and uninformed” articles by Ms Williams was complimentary to your party but derogatory to the SLP.. Hmmm…Ohh wait.. Does responsible Journalism only become an issue when your party is on the receiving end of the “Maypwis”?
I almost chocked laughing when I read that the PM wanted an apology. Are we talking about the same PM who has let down, his Ministers, the man who has shown lack of leadership consistently, the man who has let his friends down, not to mention the country. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. And to make matters worse we are told there will be an investigation. An investigation to say what any project manual will tell them.
Nice one Queen I mean King.
John Baptiste.
I sometimes wonder why people are so quick to respond to what people say or do without doing a proper reflection on what has been transpired. Over the years our people have been battling with political cancer and soon will succum to the inevitable. I don’t know when St. Lucians will begin to think for themselves and not allow sombody else’s opinion bother them and rather respect each other. I feel too many well educated St Lucians are allowing this sort of politics to continuously destroy our lovely St Lucia. We should seek to engage our people in more productive discussions rather than the continuous bashing of each other. Have our way of life become one of disrespec? do we live wihout any consideration for our children whom we believe are going to be the future leaders of tomorrow? Well friends let us all awake to the smell of the coffee. Let us open our eyes to the many challenges and circumstances that we have brought upon ourselves. For those of us who have studied the books, let’s not just shelve them because we are now it, but truly executors of the demand they have challenge us with. Stop the irresponsible behaviours we developed over the years and practice one of tolerants and selfless giving to ensure that we have a better St Lucia both for ourselves and our childrens children. Peace and love.
Hey guys put a sock in it, some of the comments here are interesting but some is definitely over the line. I for one see no reason for an apology from Maryanna, yes she failed in researching the facts but John Compton would not have sort an apology.
It is time we all as St. Lucins starting with the Prime Minister learn to be prompt and demand that standard from all and when this is not so as is inevitable in life we give an opology and explanation for our tardiness which shows respect to you audience.
We stop this saying we St. Lucian and therefore we are never on time it is disgraceful and embeds in our psychi an attitude which have and continue to affect our development and progress as a country, people and individuals in all aspects of our life.