Stuart’s regret

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart profusely apologized to hundreds of Drainage Division workers unceremoniously sent packing at the end of last month.
He was joined in his apology by the man directly responsible for the unit, Minister of the Environment Dr Denis Lowe, in a meeting yesterday where almost 400 workers turned up.
The workers, whose job it was to debush land and clear gutters and drains to avoid the flooding that plagued the island, heard personally from Stuart that their matter was “very, very badly handled”.
But it was Lowe who stirred the crowd and received thunderous applause throughout his near 30-minute address to the workers in the National Environmental Enhancement Programme (NEEP), some from his Christ Church East constituency.
But the tables were turned later during the question and answer segment when cheers went up for the terminated workers who asked when they would be paid and called on ministers to give up some of their perks so others could remain employed. One man said the Government needed to get its house in order because either people were lying or the word was not being passed on.