SANDALS AND MASSY: ECONOMICS BEFORE POLITICS

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e seem to have reached a stage in our reluctant evolution where politics takes precedence over everything, including economics and common sense. It reminds me of those who were born into certain Christian denominations and did not practise the faith until they switched churches. Almost overnight, they devoted more time and energy to the new discovery and it soon became their passion. Those who discovered late the power of politics are similarly struck. Today, politics, by which I mean party politics, has taken precedence over economics and common sense in almost every national discussion; whether on tourism, agriculture, healthcare or education.

For example, how much beach land an entrepreneur should be allowed in establishing a hotel property in Saint Lucia is heard as a political question rather than one about wise land-use and economics. The number of hotels an investor is allowed is quickly turned into a troubling political enquiry which soon filters into the issue of race rather than a common sense caution against putting too many of the island’s economic eggs into the proverbial one basket of tourism.

To hear some political hacks, one would think the island’s beaches should be declared sacred ground to be used and trampled upon only by local feet, without any regard for economic benefit. Too many neglect to ask who will pay for the upkeep of their hallowed beaches and clean the garbage left behind by the drunk and poverty-stricken. Some talk incessantly about the need to protect the flora and fauna from foreign intrusion while they turn blind eyes to the consequences of the fires of late-night beach limes. Perhaps such a sensitive environment ought to be left untouched for sacramental reasons.

There is also a quiet resentment by certain sections of the partisan crowd who view the expansion of tourism as a threat to the island’s way of life—a life they are hard-pressed to define. As usual, empty vessels make the most noise with nary a word on an alternative economic model that would produce sustainable jobs.          

The latest brouhaha is that the Sandals brand is threatening to take over the island by the vast and rapid expansion of its tourism plants. Please note that the source of this misgiving is the well-known section of the opposition political landscape that seems determined to oppose whatever they did not propose. They hope to inveigle the unwary into a change of government. Perhaps this tribe of negative mothers, with their large appetites and sticky fingers, wish to have another go at the national treasury before certain investigations should reveal their sins. They do not want King to complete his road repairs, or Ezekiel to get banana farmers back on their feet, or Fedee to complete his village tourism development drive. There is no end to the hypocrisy. Their criticisms do not end with the Sandals brand.

Another point of interest is Massy Stores. Massy has evolved into a mega-conglomerate with a large multi-island supermarket chain that gobbles up smaller entities in the Eastern Caribbean, including Saint Lucia. Few Saint Lucians seem to know or care about the number of Massy stores on the island. Even fewer care how many locally-owned supermarkets are going under due to pilferage, economic size, poor management and deliberate lack of support. As far as the one-eyed political hacks are concerned, frequent increases in food prices do not matter so long as the supermarkets do not belong to Michael Chastanet and his family or other locals. The same people who were making the loudest noises when Super-J and Mega-J were around, now are mute. It is tempting to ask whether these price-watching party hacks have fallen asleep on the job. Have they been offered incentives to concentrate instead at Sandals and the company’s tourism and job-creation plans? How sad!

Does such behaviour reflect the level of decadence of our politics? Every fool that never darkened a classroom on the island has a political opinion which is not matched by a modicum of economic thought. And from those who had the benefit of education, not a word, not a word, not a word is offered to shed light on the darkness of such mischievous ignorance.

The defining attitude seems to be that it does not matter to those political hacks and their bosses how much the poor man’s tin of sardines or of tuna fish costs. They seem happiest when a foreigner, and not a national, reaps a profit from his local food and water business. Perhaps I ought to hide behind the psychological damage which slavery and colonialism inflicted upon the people of this island and keep making excuses for every failing. But I won’t! When will it end?

We have seen in our own lifetime what appears to be a natural growth and decline in local businesses. Is this a natural cycle? Will the same happen to the foreign businesses that have replaced the local? I submit that this question ought to be of some concern to those in public life. By the way, should we be speaking of Caricom-owned businesses as foreign, in this day and age?

I submit that instead of the knee-jerk political reaction to Sandals and Massy Stores, Saint Lucians ought to be concerned about what might happen to the economy if there is a sudden change of fortunes of these two giants. I further submit that both Sandals and Massy should be encouraged to seek out food manufacturers in Jamaica and Trinidad to locate in Saint Lucia. Furthermore, local agriculture products such as mango, passionfruit, soursop, watermelon and pawpaw should be used to create a unique product for the international culinary industry. In the meantime, we should learn to support our own home-grown industries more faithfully, as do Indians, Jews and Chinese.

I could not end this without this final observation: both Sandals and Massy have trained more Saint Lucians than any other local business. The only other entity which seems just as determined to train its staff is the government of Saint Lucia. There is, therefore, something positive to be said about the business acumen of the country’s new leader.