The political leader of the National Green Party (NGP), Andre de Caires, intends to contest Gros Islet in the upcoming general election. He made the announcement today, Monday via the party’s Facebook page. De Caires stated that his intention is to work with Gros Islet residents to make the constituency “cleaner, greener and a safer place to live.” (View his announcement here: https://www.facebook.com/ngpstlucia/videos/4414487745242508/)
The party intends to field seventeen candidates and has named seven thus far:
- Andre de Caires- Gros Islet
- Avalan Joseph- Anse La Raye/Canaries
- Aaron Alexander- Castries Central
- Raffaele Cantoni- Castries South
- Ubaidullah Muhammad- Castries East
- Daisy Anna St. Rose- Castries North
- Wendell George- Dennery North
During the party’s May 23 launch, de Caries noted that the NGP is in support of decentralized governance—whereby local elections for mayors and council leaders will be held. Additionally, a successful candidate is not guaranteed a ministerial post but will instead “stay in their communities and represent the people that have elected them.”
He outlined food security as the party’s major policy. Areas of focus include embarking on cannabis law reform, reducing the food import bill, building up climate change mitigation structures and increasing the water storage capacity of the island. He pledged that constitutional reform will be tackled—stressing that the two established parties have failed to deal with this issue. Setting a fix date for elections, introducing term limits for prime ministers and removing Queen Elizabeth II as Saint Lucia’s head of state, were specifically highlighted.
Some of the other plans mentioned include: the commissioning of St. Jude Hospital; the introduction of universal daycare; affordable housing; providing the National Trust with a $1 million subvention; creation of recreational areas (skateboard parks, bmx tracks); and establishing a yachting marina in the South. Cannabis will play an integral role for the Green Party. “We’ll be able to produce 6000 jobs in the medical cannabis industry,” he said. “This would also give the government coffers at least $50 million a year, and with that money we’ll be able to do many of the projects that we intend to roll out during our term.”
The party is banking on the cannabis industry to fund most of its planned projects. De Caires pointed out that the current administration has reports from Malaysian consultants PEMANDU and the Cannabis Commission regarding the positives of a cannabis industry. “Both reports suggest that the government could make $50-80 million a year in taxes and license fees if the cannabis industry is constructed in the way that we designed it,” he said.
He invited interested citizens to learn more about the NGP’s policies by visiting their website at www.ngp.lc.
