THE CHOISEUL STADIUM BLUFF - PT 1

This website puts a high premium on transparency and truthful reporting. It is available to anyone who wishes to publish his/her comments on issues or give unrestrained vent to feelings on issues impacting on our community. We encourage strong criticism because we believe it is only through criticism we grow. From our editorial perspective, our intention is to share and critique information primarily related to our little 12.1 square-mile space known as Choiseul.

Apparently,one detractor seems to have other intentions. He has made concerted attempts to distort the editorial position on the elusive “mini-stadium” project which he has been spinning for well over a month now.  With his characteristic political propaganda and lies, he has gone to ridiculous extremes to  baselessly equate my editorial position to Lorne’s position.

I must make it categorically clear that my editorial position is not Lorne’s political position.

In this article, I will also indicate that proposed mini-stadium is nothing but a political bluff aimed at brainwashing and vote catching. So be on your guard!

For purposes of clarity and particularity, let me restate the questions I have been asking about this so called stadium project:

1)      Where did the mysterious $850,000 going towards the construction of the “stadium” come from?

2)      Under what arrangement is the Stadium being built?

3)      Why is the Ministry of Youth and Sports not the implementing agency? Why should it be the Choiseul Village council?

4)      If Tucker and the Village Council are the executing agency for the project, what is the source and basis of their legal mandate?

5)      What expertise/competencies do the Minister and the Choiseul Village Council have to implement the project effectively?

6)      Where are the preliminary drawings?

7)      Has the client accepted those drawings? In any case who is the client?

8)      Where are the final architectural, structural etc drawings for the project ?

9)      How was the figure of $1.5m arrived at? Is it the final cost estimates?

10)   Is the proposed facility a stadium or simply a stand?

I have commissioned a full and independent engineering analysis and in due course – and after I have received the options report - I will prove to you that the proposed structure is not, by any stretch of imagination, a stadium; but looks more like a “stand”. So henceforth, we will refer to it as the “Bruce Tucker Stand” (BTS)

Apparently, the Ministry of Sports is neither the executing nor the implementing agency for the BTS because there is no such provision in the estimates of expenditure; hence, Ministry cannot be the designated client. Like Pontius Pilate, the Ministry has washed its hands completely off it. But they say "fools rush in where angels fear to tread"! And that’s exactly what the Council has done.

Bruce Tucker said that the money for the BTS is with the village council. How did the money get there is still a mystery! But the greater mystery to be resolved is the status of the council which (like all other councils) is an extension of Central government; hence, the Choiseul Village Council is by law accountable to the Accountant General through the Ministry of Local Government.

However, in recent times, the reality is Central government has been constantly bypassed in favour of the Village councils who seemed to have become implementing agencies for government/community projects without the appropriate legislative authority.  But the striking irony is these same projects are being conspicuously micromanaged at the constituency level by members of central government.  Can government therefore be absolved when its ministers request and receive development assistance from a foreign source and then channel those funds through themselves and the Village Councils?  Are the village councils aware of the legal implications, especially when the paper trail is likely to exclude the offending Minister?

In the context of the above, we can say conclusively that the client is the Minister who is not operating in his capacity as a Minister, but as a “person”.  Indeed, that is a mammoth anomaly.

Back to the BTS: it should be noted that in the design of any project, steps 6 – 8 are of paramount importance because it is from them that Step 9 is derived. In other words, you cannot say you have put money aside for a project unless you have completed the preliminary drawings and final design of the project approved by the client. In the case of the BTS, accountability is extremely blurred and if this is an indication of how a minister of Government runs his ministry, then the country is in serious trouble.

Let me explain by what I mean by accountability. Suppose a major construction accident were to happen during the construction phase of the BTS; and that the people in the immediate vicinity were to become victims of that accident, who would have responsibility for liability claims? The naked fact is, although the project is being built on Government property, the government does not own it and this has implications for both liability and maintenance.  Firstly government does not have responsibility for its maintenance. Secondly, and more seriously, government would not be accountable for any liability.

Hence, in the context of the finance Laws of St. Lucia, not only is the procurement process  for the BTS wrong, but it is also illegal. 

In my follow-up article, I will prove that, the BTS is also not based on priority. I will also examine Lorne Theophilus’ credentials and contributions/achievements in Sport with a view to determine his readiness for sporting development in Choiseul/Saltibus. Stay tuned!