IN THE DAILY NATION’S editorial of August 29, titled Fix Problem Of Regional Travel Now, it is stated that the government of St Lucia “has steadfastly refused to become a shareholder in LIAT”. That statement is grossly inaccurate.
The government of St Lucia was one of the 11 regional governments which were the founding shareholders of LIAT (1974) Ltd.
The Register of Holders of Ordinary Shares of the company shows that St Lucia and all the other “founding shareholder governments” are still shareholders of the airline. It is also of interest to note that, in addition to these 11 regional governments, there are 14 non-government entities (all resident in the Caribbean) which are also shareholders of LIAT, and they have been shareholders for several years.
What is true, of course, is that over the years the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines and most recently Dominica have each invested further capital in the company and, as a consequence, they have acquired additional shares of the airline.
The result of this is that these four governments collectively now own in excess of 90 per cent of the issued shares of LIAT. But this should not blind the media and others to the fact that LIAT has, in addition to the four major shareholders, some 21 minority shareholders.
I have also noted that in the editorial referred to above there is a call to regional governments to “solve the issues preventing LIAT from properly serving Caribbean travellers who want to island-hop with ease”. I support that call and wish to humbly suggest that when the prime ministers of LIAT’s major shareholder governments decide to hold their next “regular meeting” with LIAT’s board of directors and management “to discuss the way forward for the regional carrier”, invitations to participate in that meeting should be sent to the heads of government of all the other countries which are shareholders of LIAT.
– IAN ARCHER
