PM Says LIAT Will Never Die

1. Notes From A Native Son Of The Rock! “Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn’t fit in with the core belief.” ― Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks!

   First let me take this opportunity to offer heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Gregson Davis and The Davis Family on the Rock as the Doc gained “Professor Emeritus” Status after being Chair and Dean at Ivy Leagues Institutions, Cornel University and Duke University respectively for some four decades!

   Yes Sir, Mr. Prime Minister, everyone knows that since The People of African Descent resident on the Rock gained Adult Suffrage in 1951, GoAB has been committed to building National Institutions dedicated to a Caribbean Civilization! A&B’s leadership from VC Bird to George Walter to Lester Bird to Baldwin Spencer to Gaston Browne have through words and deeds demonstrated such unwavering determination and steadfastness!

   In this the International Decade for People of African Descent 2015 – 2024, The UWI Vice Chancellor and chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Committee noted that Antigua and Barbuda, shared its “small place” and bounty with teeming numbers of its Caribbean brothers and sisters, from all SIDS of the OECS and Caricom, seeking respite, reprieve and repair, was “The Most Caribbean of Caribbean Countries” even while stating that a lack of graduate professional capacity had hindered the progress realized by the larger territories( Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago) even though only Barbados had a better Human Development Index since they had achieved independence with UWI campuses in their midst!

   “Knowledge is like a garden: if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.” – African Proverb!

   How confident can anyone be that “the Caribbean leaders and other stakeholders will work assiduously in the reorganization, or creation of a viable and sustainable LIAT!” The Big Three: Jamaica has absolutely no interest and cast its gaze ever northward; TnT with CAL will only entertain routes that are profitable given the financial drag; and, Barbados under an IMF regime of Fiscal Reform and Structural Adjustment has no fiscal space! The little Eight: Sadly have just reverted to the Dreadful Past! It should be the Little Six: Grenada will cling to CAL and be hard-bound to the South as its PM demonstrated in his hostility to the CWI AXIS of Cameron and Browne – Keep your eyes on the Sticky Wicket Prize; The Comrade in St. Vincent and The Grenadines is rightfully proud of Argyle and has made it abundantly clear that with his local short haul inter-island air carriers, his people’s requirements for southern movements are satisfied; St Lucia with service from Air Caraibes, CAL, Inter-Caribbean and the Vincentian “puddle jumpers” has always made it known that as long as LIAT was based in Antigua and Barbuda they had no interest in contributing to workers’ welfare on, and, enhancing the Rock’s coffers! The Former Head of SLASPA, just as the Ancient Mariner, would tout that line to all and sundry! He resurfaced from Florida with GPH and installed one of his disciples to head up the Operation on Antigua! No one paid a peep to this mere voice in the wilderness information! Dominica is caught in the Deep Blue! St. Kitts & Nevis has turned their eyes to the North Star since they do not see any possibilities of being an airport Hub!

   Prior to Barbados becoming the major shareholder, this mere voice in the wilderness suggested that the previous GoAB administration should, as much as they considered it an anathema, invite Hugh Marshal who had expressed an undying interest to set up a holding company for an airline – North East Caribbean Airlines (NECA) – for the day when LIAT’s unhealthy financial sickness with the poison pill of the Southern Shareholders would place it at death’s door! At the same time they were also encouraged to improve and make good the Navigational Radar System since it was in sorry state, became non functional and it was obvious that SAM would be departing having made major investments in Australia! Many ridiculed and savaged the ideas! The FAA stealthily pounced while the crabs in the barrel were tearing at each other’s “gundies!”

   For decades, long before the Cricket World Cup, FIFA World Cup 2010 and the RIO Olympiad 2014, it has been suggested that A&B move away from Casablanca and place the emphasis on the AU- Addis Ababa and Accra! Begin to create the linkages from the East to The West! When Branson made noises, the immortal words of Frantz Fanon were resurrected to dissuade any European Engagement! The Brits, Dutch and French never ceded their landing rights from the Colonial Period! They have maintained them to this day and can land hither and yon as they please! Air France and KLM are one corporate entity! Yet the Politicos in the Caribbean continue to destroy their Institutions! Have Mercy Pon Us!

   All Airlines worldwide are reducing their fleets by a minimum of 20% and staff from 30 to 50%! LIAT could not have escaped unscathed! Ethiopian Airlines is one of the few 100% Government Owned Airlines that run a profitable and comprehensive fully integrated Airline System! Mr Prime Minister, visit their Strategic Plan and engage! They have Dash 8’s in their fleet with the capacity for quick internal training in all operations! If you could not get the OECS to act on maintaining FAA Class 1 requirements why would you think they have LIAT’s as a Caribbean Institution in their Strategic Imperatives! You are on your own and with Urgency and Nimbleness can clear the Sunny Caribbean Skies from the drifting Sahara Dust clouding Caribbean minds!

   Times of great uncertainty have a way of demonstrating what people and institutions are made of, and many have been impressed with the innovation, resilience and motivations of the Antigua and Barbuda LIAT workforce! It is a resource and technological capacity that few SIDS possess and should not be permitted to wither on the vine or discarded to the vagaries of the shiftless Caribbean waves and sinking sands! “What is any better than operating and acting out of our own collective interest? What is any greater than seeing the world through our eyes? What resonates more with people than understanding that we are central to our history, not someone else’s? If we can, in the process of materializing our consciousness, claim space as agents of progressive change, then we can change our condition and change the world.” – Dr. Molefe Kete Asante, The Afrocentric Eye!

2. We will save Liat on our own if the rest of the Caribbean Islands fail to work with us. We can do it!

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