BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – LOCAL political and church leaders have come in for sharp criticisms for their apparent “silence” regarding the current plight of Haiti which was pummeled by a major storm more than a week ago.
On October 4, Hurricane Matthew, as a Category Four storm, passed through the island leaving widespread mass destruction. Several hundred individuals lost their lives, many buildings and homes totally destroyed and mass flooding occurred as a result of torrential rain.
An individual, who spoke with this publication on condition of anonymity, said he is “very disheartened by the fact that up to now we have not heard anything official about Haiti’s relief from any of the politicians or the churches. The churches are the first ones who are supposed to say they are going to assist, but we are not hearing anything.We have not heard from the Government or the Opposition and this is something serious.”
The man, who preferred to be referred to as a “concerned citizen”, said he was happy to hear that the Chamber of Industry and Commerce – along with its partners – was doing its part to send aid to Haiti in its time of need. And he pledged that the company for which he works would assist in whatever way it could.
He said, however, the silence of the Government and Opposition Parliamentarians as well as the church community on the matter is deafening.
“This is stupidness that we have a country where people are dying, they are going to church and there is no roof on the church, they are going to church to bury their dead and everyday they are finding more bodies. They gone over 1,000 now and they still haven’t reached certain areas of the country as yet. Where is our leadership right now?”
The concerned citizen also said the voices of both the Government and the Opposition are very strong and it would go a long way should they lend their voices to the Haiti relief effort.
Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit – who is also the Chairman of CARICOM - has been very vocal on this tragedy and made a call to the private sector in his country to mobilise as much as they could and that the Government would assist with the underwriting and coordination of shipment of the aid supplies.
Only one year ago Dominica was flooded after torrential rain was dumped there by Tropical Storm Erika and members of the Caribbean Community provided aid and support in the rebuilding process.
PM Skerrit expressed that in the case of Haiti and the Bahamas, “as a grateful people, we have a duty to respond without request”.
