Former Castries Mayor Peterson Francis has chided the Environmental Health Department over inaction regarding indiscriminate fish vending in Castries.
Francis spoke Wednesday evening during the DBS Television programme, Newsmaker Live.
“One of the major problems we have, especially in trying to administer certain portfolios – where is environmental health? Where Ministry of Health?” Francis asked.
“If I become Mayor again, you’re telling me the fellows selling fish by the roundabout there, you’re telling me that is something I would allow to happen? That doesn’t mean because I say I would not allow it to happen that means I am not going to work with them,” the former Mayor said.
“It does not take the Mayor to come out and say, ‘Well, you can’t sell fish there,'” Francis stated.
He also spoke of the conditions under which the fish sales occur.
Francis noted that there’s no ice, the vendors are there from morning, and some are shirtless.
“What are they doing about it?” The former Mayor asked about the Health Ministry officials.
“When you see you now have to go and take action, you are being blamed,” Francis observed.
But he said there are government entities responsible for taking the required action.
“Where is Environmental Health? And you tell me it is proper for them to have what is happening, especially you have provisions on the ground, on the sidewalk?” The Mayor told Newsmaker Live.
Regarding whether government officials in both the current and former administrations have facilitated the problem by instructions to ‘give the people a break’, Francis declared if that is the case, it is not supposed to happen.
He said officials do not get paid to facilitate the problem.
According to Francis, the problem in Saint Lucia is non-adherence to laws.
Give credit where it is due. This guy tried. Unfortunately, when you have politicians tell people vend wherever they choose and those people turn around and vote for those politicians it proves nothing will ever be fixed here. Lawlessness begets lawlessness. All those murders are a symptom of this disorder.
Castries has become so dirty and nasty…its a shame !
Mr Francis is very right with his concerns.
This IS an unhealthy, and unsightly situation, not to mention smelly!!
Raw fish can pose health problems to the “buying” public, where, when fish is exposed to sunlight, this contributes to the fish rotting fast = POISON!!
Peterson was easily the best mayor in a long time. He tried putting order in the city and a lot of his work is still visible. I can say the powerful odor of urine is mainly gone in downtown Castries. Vendors are now back to their old tricks. The present council has a lot to be desired. Getting reelected at any cost is the order of the day. Those clowns need to enforce the freaking laws. By their inaction they are creating unsafe and unsightly conditions. Those clowns wouldn’t stop until they are faced with a massive lawsuit. In typical St. Lucian fashion, they are sailing along until something dramatic occurs.
There is a chronic disease is Saint Lucia. A disease where the vast majority of the people are stagnated by NO PROGRESS. For instance, despite the many vehicular accidents in Saint Lucia, it appears no one is taking into consideration the factors of these vehicular deaths or injuries…yet people, especially young people, still go about their reckless abandon, without due care for their lives or the lives of others….I still have not seen any major and sustained public campaign for safe road use by the government. People just carry on as usual…ride like the wind, drive like a bat out of hell…and don’t give toss….yet we claim we have two Nobel Laureates to prove we are smart and intelligent people, yet our behaviour and general attitude suggests we’re are as backward as backward can be….no progress. For instance, the key note speaker for the Nobel Laureate lecture at Sir Arthur Lewis delivered by Dr James Fletcher this year lamented the fact Saint Lucia has failed to implement ecomonic policies formulated by Sir Arthur Lewis to turn it’s laconic economy into something worthy of a developing nation. He went on to say, Singapore, South Korea, China, Malaysia and Taiwan to some extent became successful countries partly because they implemented the same ecomonic principles formulated or invented by Sir Arthur. That very statement I have mentioned on this very forum some years ago if Saint Lucia Times can dig up their archives, you will find it somewhere in there. My mouth was agap when I heard the him say that statement because I had espoused that same statement. Dr Fletcher went on to say, in the 1980s South Korea has the same GDP as Saint Lucia and has since went on to be an economic power house leaving Saint Lucia in the dust…he made the same comparison with Brazil and South Korea…and here we are today, a nation celebrating two Nobel Laureates but appears to be backward in it’s thinking and mentality….to show you have mediocre things are in Saint Lucia, the Mistress of Ceremony at the Sir Arthur Lewis Nobel Laureate lecture introduced the dignitaries at the function and despite the former governor general – Dame Pearlette Louisy – who is quite well known, the Mistress of Ceremonies referred to tye former GG as HIS Excellency Dame Pearlette Louisy… before correcting herself… suffice it to say the former GG was not impressed…the camera caught the former GG’s reaction clearly…it’s on YouTube for all to see…we just seem to be a nation going nowhere. And this fish selling issue is nothing new but a sign of a lackadaisical approach by successive governments and mayors of Castries…it’s a shame to walk down Castries and see the rot, the degradation. It’s like the city is tired and haggard…. perhaps it’s a metaphorical picture of who we are as a nation and those who lead…Sir Derek Walcott fought tooth and nail for a National Theatre for the propagation of the arts , to this day we still don’t have a national theatre…yet Trinidad was happy to have Sir Derek on their soil pushing the arts and paying homage to him. But yet we like to claim we have two Nobel Laureates….but sitting on our laurels not solidifying our heritage by implementing what these two laureates left us… Saint Lucia should have been way ahead in its development to-date…but NOOOOOOOO…. visionless politicians are their ones we elect….
I continue…
In the Nobel Laureate lecture by Dr James Fletcher at Sir Arthur Lewis community college this year, at the end of the lecture were questions and answers… I was appalled by the inability of some of the people to speak fluently and ask a question or make a statement without making errors. It’s on YouTube for all to see…And I was wondering isn’t English our main language? People can’t speak fluently or make a perfectly reasoned argument, just plainly can’t express themselves..and you wonder why crime is so rampant in our society? What baffles me is how religious a nation is yet it is rife with anti-religious issues such as domestic violence and abuse…..proves that religion changes nothing, religion is just widely accepted superstition..yet, these very religions would castigate voodoo, an equality superstitious religion…Look at the leaders of the nation, look at the state of the roads, look at the state of the city, look at the state of politics, look at the rate of road traffic accidents….it’s written clearly for all to see…I am a proud Lucian and hate to berate my beloved Country but sometimes you have to say it as it is… I so wish to see my beloved Country make that progress which it is capable of but is kept back by petty politicians who keep the people blind…I tell you, as quick as boiled asparagus, we are heading backward if we don’t wake up to the 21st century….
This is so true about how unsafe the selling practices and conditions are because I had fish poisoning recently and was told that i was lucky. It is important that fish must always be covered with lots of ice particularly even more so in the blazing sun. Plz post this comment because this almost killed me
Castries is an embarrassment. Dirty, disgusting, disorganised, loud, and filthy. If that is what the capital embodies imagine the rest of the country. This guy certainly tried. Can’t say the same for current crop.
The authorities have no shame. How can they pass through castries and not be embarrassed?
I do not have anything personal against this guy but when you speak on such platforms like the media knowing fully well others will be looking/listening because when you in front of a mic or live on a broadcast you have to be so, so careful of what you spew from your mouth, how you say it and what you really mean. When responsible/leaders back against the wall they will look for these lapses and fire back hard. You validate a crucial point with regards to the manner of how sellers of fish in this case, are of such poor knowledge about hygiene, food safety and people’s health. I am sure the various ministries personnels go and shop from these sellers, habitually. Fish needs to be degutted and stored in ice from the time it leaves the water, regardless of if it is to sell the same day or not. What we need to do is to sensitize the public about fish and harmful bacteria, some parasites which can live under high temp survive, such as the roasting method when preparing. Simple digestive and irregular bowel movement will be signs after consuming it. I’ll give all readers tips and ask any professional sushi chef about doing simple test about fish.
1. Hold the fish by the tale, hold it up vertically, if the fish curls to right side 3 o’ clock position and below or left side 9 o’ clock position and below its no good, that fish was caught over 8-12hrs, poorly kept/store or were frozen, d-ice and never enter back cool temp. Or it was stale and place to freeze. *avoid buying per cut fish from vendors with poor hygiene.
2. If you are buying a fish precut frozen or fresh observed with Lazer eyes at the middle bone the meat/flesh should be firm against the bone, any separation of tissues/muscles its going bad already.
3. frozen or fish sold at the market, check the gill of the fish, it must be pronounced in red, or consistent color of red not too dark red going brownish or light greyish. brownish/greyish and slime on it suggesting that the fish is in bad state, and border line to spoil.
4. Any fresh fish/frozen fish when cut you will see pronounce red blood by the center bone, if it is frozen it will be medium reddish, after toughing it off it will drip red.
Above are some simple tips to save guard your health, remember no one can do it for you but you.
Mr. Francis take note as well.
Same in Vieux Fort the problem is St Lucia lacks lots proper standards for many things and the politicians are afraid of implying them because they don’t want to lose votes hence the reason why we are so under develop as a nation.
This is really not a big deal. Fish and produce vendors are not the problem. Inadequate public restroom facilities in Castries is a more critical environmental health concern than the vendors.
Dirty. Reeks of urine. Vieux neg loitering everywhere. Loud obscene vulgar music in every corner. People cussing and threatening each other every other step. Castries is a hellscape. But I guess that’s how the people like it since they aren’t holding politicians to account.
When i was a child and my grand mother would say too me u, are coming to town with me on Saturday boy i would spend the whole night awake waiting for morning but now Castries city is a shit
mayor i will just give my take these guys infront of water front am asking for the beru of standerd to inter vain cause the scale they are using do not met the standerd to sell fish for the parblic some of them it is high way robbury need to inter vain dont even wat to go into deatails just SMH
Instead of trying to prevent the vendors from earning a fair living make life better and stop bringing politics in this. You were only making it harder for the vendors and they to have bills.
It the vendors have place to sell their fish. There is a fish market. The man is talking about the lawlessness not depriving anyone of their daily bread. That is the society that we want to develop, destroy the environment, pollute the atmosphere, give people food poisoning, and the list goes on just to ensure we have a daily bread. I ask, at who’s expense? We hang Fedee for his comment on why the government cannot adequately deal with crime, but look at the bigger picture there. We condone lawlessness in exchange for votes. We will be the ones to suffer in the end, not the politicians. Most of them will pick up and leave after they have destroyed our Fair Helen.
Over to you – dishonorable lowgrade – how come we haven’t heard from you yet?
This will continue, due to fear of losing Votes. The ones ruling Castries will not help
cannot help because their mentality is just as that of the fish vendors, sell by all means