Looshan Life from the Perspective of a Resident Non-national!

This being my first ever letter to a newspaper, I find myself a tad apprehensive. However, the situation is such that it seems imperative that I share my thoughts.

I am a retired foreigner who has lived mainly in Saint Lucia (approximately eight months per year) since January 2011. I came because of a close relative who was then working on the island and has since left, whereas I remained. I did so because I love this island, its people, customs, ambience, languages and generally everything about the place. I will admit, however, that local politics appear rather baffling to me as a foreigner (born in Martinique, raised in the USA, schooled both there and in Paris).

I remember quite vividly as I first arrived in 2011 how generally poor and rundown the streets, roads, buildings and vehicles looked. The population, however, seemed mostly happy, joyous, always ready to lend a helping hand and offer greetings and a smile. Over the years I have noticed a gradual change in peoples’ attitudes. A perceptible dissatisfaction and morosité has been gaining ground in the overall thinking of the people.

I first felt it shortly after the application in October 2012 of the 15% VAT levied on most retail sales (which was predominately perceived by the public at large, as an immediate 15% decrease in monthly revenue and buying power). At that time I understood the prevalent unhappiness, and attributed it to the reduction of purchasing power felt by all but the most prosperous. I even credited the election defeat of the SLP (the party which instituted the detested VAT) to the establishment of that tax. Over the past several years nevertheless, I have noticed gradual improvements in the standards of living on the island.

For example, when I first arrived, vehicles were often older looking, dilapidated, with dings and dents, frequently billowing dark smelly clouds of exhaust smoke. Today most vehicles one encounters are new or recent. And while every once in a while one runs into a truck, bus or car which releases quantities of choking exhaust gases, gone are the days of when two to three of every six cars were eyesores. In Saint Lucia today most of those owning a TV have a flat screen (of varying sizes, of course, depending on their individual resources, but a flat screen nonetheless). The Courts stores whose prices look like they are beyond the reach of most Saint Lucians seem to be doing a brisk business. The quantity of new or recent luxury cars (Audi, Mercedes Benz, Lexus, BMW, etc) is astounding. Even the taxis and mini buses are spiffy and new looking.

The supermarkets never seem to be able to keep up with the popular demand for goods, as can be judged by how often they run out of stock of various popular and sundry items. Commuters sport iPhones, Samsung Galaxy9 phones and other expensive devices on mini buses. Nightclubs play loud, disturbing outdoor music every night until 2 a.m. for customers in Rodney Bay and elsewhere. They must have many patrons to be open every night, most of whom are not tourists. Yet the opposition party is constantly harping as loudly as possibly, proclaiming that things are very bad and that the financial situation of the population at large is in dire straits. And the said population swallows the party line, hook and sinker too. I am fully aware of the disparity between the north and the south of the island in standards of living, and the inherent reasons for those differences. I have nevertheless noticed in my travels throughout Saint Lucia that there are now very few old, dilapidated, wooden houses, as was common even ten years ago.

New enterprises are opening in the south (i.e. Ojo labs), employing scores of new recruits. As a retiree living on a fixed income, just as everyone else, I am subjected to the vagaries of VAT or other taxes which reduce my purchasing abilities, e.g. 12.5% VAT, greatly increased annual vehicle licensing costs or, yet again, a new 70% duty on imported furniture, applicable as of April 1, 2019; unfortunately not an April Fool joke! Accordingly, I understand and share some of the frustrations felt by the population.Yet, when I ponder some of the situations described above, I cannot help but wonder: if the situation is really as bad as suggested, then how on earth are these things possible?

How can people afford new vehicles, expensive phones, (which are being purchased throughout the island), frequent nightclub and/or restaurant outings, and new flat screen TVs? Are things as bad as they say? Can they possibly be? Or are the people just being moutons, believing and doing as they are told? Sometimes someone from outside can better see and evaluate the situation than those in the centre of it, especially if political aspirations and/or financial interests are involved! A classic case of not seeing the forest, for the trees!

The factionalism so intensely evident on such a small, struggling island will eventually be detrimental to all. It would be much more beneficial to everyone to acknowledge that no faction is all good, nor all bad. Recognition of the benefits achieved by one’s adversaries is not necessarily a fault, and it would behove all parties to tone down the rhetoric in the interests of the common good. Some food for thought . . .

—Jack de LePine