Jihan Williams: Emotions got their stage but I still have questions about new BHS site choice

More criticism in the way Wednesday night's hastily-called town hall meeting to discuss the construction of the new Basseterre High School on St Kitts' Basseterre Valley aquifer.

Jihan Williams is of the view that emotions should have been factored in the planning and that information from the experts were not accessible prior to the meeting.

"What I saw on TV on BHS reminded me of parliament. Why do we expect people not to curse and be angry when we're constantly in combative mode? Why do we expect that decorum will prevail when people who have been extreme and polar in their positions FINALLY face each other? It's like you rile up two dogs to fight, each in a separate corner.

You dig them, aggravate them, convince them that the other dog is the enemy and it must be annihilated and each dog has a huge cheering squad boosting them up. When those two dogs finally meet, you'll expect them to just look at each other and bark respectfully?" asked Jihan Williams an attorney and Registrar of the Intellectual Property Rights Office.

Stating that the townhall meeting was arranged badly in her opinion, Williams noted that if consensus or even enlightenment truly is the goal, efforts should be made in the future to factoring in people's emotions.

"Plan and make provisions for it like you would any other determining factor like budget and competing events. It was unrealistic to expect that all that information would be given and all questions answered in that sitting when you consider the emotion surrounding these issues," said Williams in a posting on her FaceBook page.

She said while the technocrats seem to be in possession of a wealth of information, "my dissatisfaction with the outcome of Wednesday night is largely in part to the fact that their information was not easily accessible prior to last night."

She said Wednesday night's session highlighted two separate issues.

"It became clear to me that they are two separate issues that unfortunately are being joined because of the nature of it - i.e. care for the welfare of students and teachers of BHS and concern over the proposed site. They are two different things and how you feel about one does not have to impact the way you feel about the other. The emotions got their stage but I still have questions about the site choice," said Williams.