PMC expresses sadness over Tomas’s destruction

The People’s Movement for Change (PMC) joins the rest of the nation in expressing sadness over the loss, damage and destruction caused by Hurricane Tomas to St. Vincent and the Grenadines and its CARICOM neighbours.{{more}}

Jomo Thomas, General Secretary of the PMC, in a press release said his organization notes the devastation to the agriculture sector and is especially worried about the losses from the banana industry, which would have a severe impact on the income of banana farmers and their dependents.

“This, no doubt, would further affect the revenue situation of the country, already affected by the global economic slowdown,” said Thomas.

Thomas further stated that the PMC notes with distress that it is the distant rural communities in the north that have been most severely struck, while the persons who have to make reconstruction decisions will do so in an environment far removed from those whose lives are affected.

In this context, the PMC proposes that a broader approach to relief and reconstruction be put in place to include: The restructuring of the cabinet committees that will implement and monitor the reconstruction process to include representatives nominated by other political parties, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CIC), the National Council of Women (NCW), and the National Credit Union League (NCUL).

It also proposes the establishment of Civil Society and Community Volunteer brigades for rapid reconstruction of banana cultivation and other rehabilitation work.

Also on the list of things to do, is a proposal to provide for multi-representative media briefings on the reconstruction and relief efforts.

“It is our hope that with such a broad-based approach to disaster relief and reconstruction, acrimonious electioneering would be minimized,” said Thomas, adding, “There is no better time than now to prove in words and in deeds that good policy is good politics”.