By Caribbean News Global contributor
CASTRIES, St Lucia – On January 14, during an ‘update to the nation’ prime minister and minister for finance Allen Chastanet, said on national television, “… because there’s no point in saving people if in fact their livelihoods are being affected.”
In a statement Friday, The Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP), said:” This is an unwitting revelation of who Chastanet really is and what he truly believes,” adding, “Chastanet is a man concerned with his political power, his friends and his family. He does not have a heart for ordinary people and their struggles.”
Highlighting the Christian faith ascribe the United Workers Party (UWP) and the co-called prayer worries that uphold the evil acts of the government of Saint Lucia; the SLP embraced the philosophy that “Christian faith teaches us, that all people have value and that the poor are blessed.”
The SLP also reaffirmed the reality that seems to allude the leadership of the UWP and government of Saint Lucia, and the well-known reality – boils down to the fact that, “the UWP government has failed Saint Lucian’s during COVID-19, and the health crisis.”
The SLP said in the release: “ We are yet to hear anything about a vaccine. We were slow to institute testing and compared to our neighbors in Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines; and St Kitts and Nevis, we have had more cases and more deaths.”
Outlining continuous failures and ineptitude, “ the UWP also failed on the economic crisis,” to which the SLP advised the heartless government of Saint Lucia, who despite the hardships facing the people has failed to “instituting a social safety net that would give unemployed Saint Lucian’s financial assistance of various kinds, the UWP did not have a heart for the people; and provided no relief even though [we] Saint Lucia had the highest unemployment in the entire region resultant from COVID-19,” the SLP said, in a release.
However, help is seeming on the way. Saint Lucia is in an election year. According to the constitution, parliament shall dissolve on July 11, 2021, and election held on or before October 11, 2021.
The island is not at war with a foreign nation and is not on the verge of civil war; albeit being seven-times French and seven-times British, there is currently no justification for invoking special instruments of the constitution to facilitate the fancy and illusions, that seems to twitch the neurons of Tropical Trump and his cynical advisors.
Reports from internal sources of the prime ministers’ chambers indicate the reluctance to call general elections, equivocate continuous un-favourable polling data, decreasing popularity and socio-economic rebuffs.
There are multiple unfinished projects that the political apparatus is desirous of completion to at least have a modicum of accomplishment. This also coincides with the war chest, closely monitored at financial institutions and stash houses.
In contrast, the SLP said: “It plans to provide unemployment assistance for those who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic, including food and financial support to see people through,” the social, economic and health inflected morass of the UWP government of Saint Lucia.
“We would also dramatically ramp up our COVID-19 testing so that we can safely welcome tourists back to our shores, stimulating the economy and keeping Saint Lucian’s safe,” the SLP reiterated “for the benefit of all.”
