BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THERE is a growing feeling of unease as consumers butt around seeking answers that should have been provided to make them aware of why existing conditions are the way they are.
It is understandable that from time to time things will not go as planned; that roads will not be patched as soon as required; that power outages will occur without warning; that water mains will burst and water will be locked off but when this happens with increasing frequency, one must question the capabilities of those responsible for these occurrences.
Yesterday, consumers made their treks from supermarket to supermarket; from bar shop to bar shop only to be told each time that no tinned (evaporated) milk was available. Even the Chinese and other supermarkets which do not depend totally on Government sourced milk were also without milk.
At a time when there are so many gloom and doom prognostications, it is important for authorities to use their disseminating machinery to inform the public and relieve the stress that descends on many in these times of scarcity.
The most recent IMF St. Kitts Nevis Country Report spoke repeatedly about the need for “information transparency” yet citizens are not really aware of our true financial condition.
We have been bolstered time after time when we hear from Government sources that as bad as things are, we have been meeting our financial obligations and paying our debts on time.
Now this same IMF report speaks to the arrears we are now falling into and that we are falling behind in meeting our debt payments.
We have been told of the advantages of privatization and the need to privatise the Electricity Department. We have accepted the drastic increase in electricity rates only to find that the situation has become decidedly worse. Yet there has been no “information transparency”.
We have been told that we should continue to pay our water bills to a ‘private’ electricity company and we cannot understand why this is so. No “information transparency”.
The police department has a public relations officer, yet recent press releases about crimes have come from the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary.
Surely some respect to the intelligence of consumers ought to be shown and the majority, up until now, have been quite willing to absorb the explanations given and to exercise patience.
Up to the time of producing this article, we could get no answers from any department, Government or otherwise, as to why the supermarkets are without such an important commodity as evaporated milk.
We respectfully ask the Government to respect the advice of the IMF and exercise “Information transparency” in all its dealings with its citizens. Surely we deserve that.
