BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE list of qualities that a good leader ought to possess is lengthy. Ingenuity and imagination are two of those qualities and, according to member of the Unity Concept the Hon. Eugene Hamilton, the people of the land have suffered as they have because the sitting Leader, Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Denzil L Douglas, is lacking in that regard.
While making a presentation on the Unity platform on Friday (Nov. 15), the Parliamentary Representative for Constituency Number Eight used the 2005 closure of the Sugar Industry as a main point of reference in supporting his claim.
Hamilton suggested that had Dr. Douglas not been imaginatively deficient, other by-products of sugar cane could have been produced at a more cost-effective manner than sugar.
“A gallon of sugar cane juice is 128 fluid ounces…At least you could have gotten 12 bottles of sugar cane juice at $5 a bottle… (That is) $60. But if it takes a gallon of sugar cane juice to make one pound of sugar, when you reach sugar, is only $0.85. Think about it. A pound of sugar was 85 cents. And if it took a gallon of sugar cane juice to make a pound of sugar, when you done pump…12 bottles of juice for one pound of sugar, you move it from $60 to $0.85. And you know what? You pay people to do it as well, you pay wages to do it and use old machinery to do it.
“I want you to think about it…because if Douglas had imagination he would have said: ‘I am going to change the object of the sugar industry from sugar to sugarcane juice.’ And we could have made sugar cane juice to sell here in this country and to export abroad. And the sugar workers would have gotten four times the amount of money they used to get as sugar workers. No imagination!”
Hamilton suggested that if the Prime Minister had imagination he would have placed 20 percent of the monies dispersed by…for the displaced sugar workers, and invest it in a company to be wholly owned by the sugar workers.
“Twenty percent of $40M is $8.8M. It means that Douglas’ imagination – if he had one – would have created a company called a Sugar Workers Holding Company with a capital of $8.8M. And if Douglas had imagination he would have said to the Sugar Workers, ‘Now I would transfer to your company 200 acres of land.’ Two hundred acres of land transferred to the sugar workers’ company would have been $10M gone to the sugar workers. So they would have moved from $8M to $18M without even scratching a pen. Douglas has no imagination!”
The defunct La Valle project was among the others that Hamilton said were stained by Dr. Douglas’ lack of imagination.
“Douglas imagined La Valle and La Valle has not yet made one dime for the country…Douglas imagined White Gate. Before Douglas even became Prime Minister he talking ‘bout White Gate. You all see any White Gate anywhere? That is Douglas imagination! Douglas imagined stevia. We aine see stevia up to now! That man has no imagination.
“…he went as far to say that he gun bring a car plant to make car(s). Douglas has imagination that has never come to anything. That is why I am saying to you that on this stage you have men with vision and imagination. We need a new paradigm in this country so that men with vision, led by Timothy Harris, can come in and change the direction of this country.”
