By Nicole Mc Donald

Sir John Compton’s assertion on Thursday’s TALK with Rick Wayne that his administration had secured the site of the Beausejour sports stadium for similar purpose has incensed Labour Party campaigners in the upcoming general elections. Addressing the issue on Claudius Francis’ Straight-Up show yesterday morning, Mario Michel said:

“Every single utterance of Sir John on that matter is completely untrue and completely without foundation. The idea of building the Beausejour grounds was in the Labour Party contract of the 1997 general elections. It was inserted there by me, about the undertaking to build a cricket stadium in the low rainfall region of St Lucia. You might remember that not long after taking office I had to deal with the reality of a cricket match, a one-day international scheduled for St Lucia in April of the following year, and confronted by the West Indies Cricket Board with the question will St Lucia host.

 “I went to get an estimation, to see what kind of expenditure we would have to undertake. The figure was between two and three million dollars. We decided we were not going to spend that kind of money on Mindoo Phillip Park to host a one-day international, that we would undertake instead to commit to building a cricket ground for St Lucia. I held meetings with the National Cricket Association in St Lucia, with the Windward Islands Cricket Board, the West Indies Cricket Board about issues of locations and what should be in be in the ground, and the possibility of World Cup Cricket being hosted by the West Indies in 2007. Finally we stumbled upon the Beausejour site.

 “I worked with the ministry of planning and then said yes, it was a good site. Prior to going to Cabinet for land acquisition, we acquired lands from about three or four different land owners that presented issues involving goats and cows. To this day some land owners are angry over the fact that I caused their land to be acquired in order to build the grounds. There was absolutely nothing, absolutely no thought by the previous government about the construction of a cricket ground or the location of the ground.

 “As for the Blom-Cooper inquiry matter, the acquisition related to land acquired in relation to the possible building of a stadium in Vieux Fort. That had nothing to do with the Gros Islet cricket grounds.” Meanwhile, a spokesman for the United Workers Party has issued the following correction: “When Sir John Compton said during his appearance on TALK that the acquisition of land for the Beausejour Cricket Ground by his administration was part of the Blom-Cooper Inquiry he misspoke. What Sir John meant to say was that the matter had been included in the Monica Joseph Inquiry that preceded the earlier mentioned. After Ms Joseph excused herself from the proceedings and was replaced by Sir Louis Blom-Cooper the allegations were inexplicably dropped.

 “Sir John is absolutely clear on his recollection that the land for the Beausejour Cricket Ground was reserved by his administration and cites the testimony of Anthony Severin, then cabinet secretary, now UN ambassador, to the Monica Joseph Inquiry on this matter.“Sir John also recalls that Desmond Brathwaite, who had been his sports minister, was made the target of the Monica Joseph Inquiry over certain financial commitments relating to this matter. Also that in 1982 the lands had been escheated to the crown years before because it was vacant land, became the subject of negotiations over a possible land exchange with Jerome Montoute, a cattle farmer, when some of his lands were acquired in 1982 for the Rodney Bay Development.

 “Negotiations broke down when Gregor Mason and Kenneth Foster became involved. By the time Mr Montoute showed an interest in the land again in the early 1990s it had already been earmaked for a stadium and his representatives could not be entertained.“During a visit to Paris in 1993, an in principle commitment was secured from the government of France under the Economic Cooperation Programme to provide financial assistance for development of a stadium.”Who will the electorate believe? We’ll know soon enough!