By Caribbean News Global contributor
CASTRIES, St Lucia – A schedule sitting of the Senate of Saint Lucia for Thursday, October 1st, 2020 at 10 a.m. was abandoned following that absence of a quorum, primarily from the opposition and independent Senators.
President of the Senate Jeannine Giraudy-McIntyre announced: “Good morning senators, we normally start at 10:00 am and at this point we do not have a quorum as we only have four senators, so there will be no sitting.” Members hastily vacated the legislative chamber.
The Senate – 24. Composition
(1) The Senate shall consist of 11 Senators and such other Senators as may be temporarily appointed under section 28.
(2) Of the 11 Senators— (a) 6 shall be appointed by the governor general, acting in accordance with the advice of the prime minister;
(b) 3 shall be appointed by the governor general, acting in accordance with the advice of the leader of the opposition; and
(c) 2 shall be appointed by the governor general, acting in his or her own deliberate judgment after he or she has consulted those religious, economic or social bodies or associations from which he or she considers that such Senators should be selected.
Related: St Lucia opposition appoints two new senators
The much anticipated sitting of the Senate was scheduled to ratify amongst other Bills passed in the House of Assembly, September 29, the controversial COVID-19 (Prevention and Control) Bill, a replacement of the State of Emergency, Statutory Instrument, No. 60 of 2020 and expired September 30, 2020.
Saint Lucians and professional organisation including the Saint Lucia Bar Association and the Saint Lucia Hospitality and Tourism Association wrote to the government requesting that COVID-19 bill be deferred pending consultation.
However, the prime minister and the office of the attorney general/legal advisor (s) – incompetent, ill-informed and ostensible scrawny policy-making are politically bent – on the eve of general elections point the urgency of time constraints and the challenges of COVID-19, albeit “presently there are no active cases of COVID-19 on island. The last case has been repatriated to the United States for treatment and care. Saint Lucia has recorded zero COVID-19 deaths. A total of 7,945 tests have been conducted to date. We continue daily testing for COVID-19 at the various sites. The five respiratory clinics remain open to facilitate anyone with respiratory signs and symptoms or concerns. The 311 Hotline is also available where concerns and questions can be addressed,” ministry of health.
In a heated debate in the House of Assembly preceding the adoption of the new COVID-19 (Prevention and Control) Bill, minister for tourism, Dominic Fedee, without providing evidence, accused opposition leader Philip J Pierre of having paid members of the Saint Lucia Hospitality and Tourism Association for the publication of a letter that asked for more time to examine the different text.
Regressively, the new COVID-19 (Prevention and Control) Bill, if passed in the Senate and signed by the governor-general will be enforced for two years. Besides, concerns deepen over matters of civil liberties, freedom to association and assemble, holding meetings (indoor/outdoor) and free movement of people on the island.
Relative to maintaining public order and health security, the exceptional powers of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) (currently in disarray) – there is real fear over media monitoring and suppression of information that questions: whether Saint Lucia has become Vladimir Putin Russia?
Prime minister Chastanet is attempting to find a happy medium after four years of mismanagement and political grandstanding, that has negatively impacted Saint Lucia.
Saint Lucia is in an election year. Repeated polling from local and international agencies give the opposition Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) a wide margin of victory.
According to the prime minister, he is not focused on re-election, said: “Right now, we are focused on reconnecting with the economy, continuing to protect the health of the Saint Lucians and elections are something to come. They are legislatively and legally required to happen and when that happens we will focus on it,” added, “right now we are focused on the economy, we are focused on the health care of the country and certainly, trying to figure out what is going on in the world.”
In essence, that prime minister of Saint Lucia and his administration revealed their inability to govern beyond the status of a tin-pot dictatorship, under the cover of COVID-19 intrusive and regressive legislation.
