No Foot Print January 19
Eric Williams remarked once that Tobago has been colonized twice, first by Great Britain and then by Trinidad. This thought is in the minds of many today following the decision by Sandals not to build its mega resort in Buccoo. Tobago shall go without Sandals.
The plan had been to build 900 hospitality suites on a pristine stretch of turquoise coast, called No Man’s Land. For those who supported the project, an economic opportunity has been quashed by a radicalized intellectual elite, which has held sway in the halls of parliament since independence. They accuse the Williamesque crowd of isolationism, so resentful of outsider exploitation that they killed the goose that lay the golden sandal.
Opponents of the venture, myself included, filled pages with criticism; but, of course, no one reads my stuff. Newsday, however is another matter: “When private companies are allowed to profit on the strength of Cabinet arrangements and resources provided by the public sector, it is more than reasonable for these arrangements to face scrutiny—citizens no longer tolerate those who would throw sand in their eyes.“
The head of government, Prime Minister Keit’ Rowley, supported the Buccoo plan, and he is the first to assail Sandals CEO Gebhard Rainer’s reasoning behind the withdrawal. “Negative publicity and consistent badgering,“ is how the chief sandal described it, but Rowley sees the behavior as petulant and childish, akin to surfer boy taking his beach volleyball and going home.
Rowley clearly has a problem with kids. Growing up in Tobago, he was surrounded by goats and their own kids, and he is constantly peeved when children are referred to as kids. “This is an American slang,“ he chides. “My parents are no goats.“ No, his parents, like he, are proud Tobagonians, and these islanders tend to see Trinidad as an occupying power. The locals overwhelmingly want the jobs, business opportunity, and infrastructure improvements that Sandals offered, according to the PM, and it was only vocal elite minority of “eggheads“ from the bigger island that stopped it.
Rainer spoke about hurting the corporate brand, but it is the TT brand that the Rowley Cabinet fears may suffer. Barbados, Jamaica, and the Bahamas all have Sandals—Haiti, Cuba, and Tobago do not.
MP Stuart Young maintains he is not giving up on the project. He is the Prime Minister’s favorite son, somehow simultaneously serving as both ministers of national security and communications, and he was the man who was forced to sit next to Gebhard Rainer as he delivered the bad news. It was Young’s job to explain the colossal defeat to his boss.
He is also the very man with the heavy briefcase I met at the elevator a few nights ago. No wonder he sweats in the mirror.