Is Ernest Hilaire St. Lucia’s House Houdini?

It’s becoming increasingly embarrassing to witness Saint Lucia’s deputy prime minister, with responsibility for the Citizens by Investment Program, as he attempts to disentangle himself from his self-woven web of half-truths and outrageous denials. His attempts to dodge public accountability serve only to reveal of presumptuous some humans can be, and how clueless from top to bottom is the Philip J. Pierre government.  

Ernest Hilaire’s hasty address to the nation in June of this year was by popular consensus a complete and utter disaster. The televised debacle barely skimmed the surface of his latest catastrophe. It seemed designed with two objectives: as a placebo to his increasingly apprehensive red army—laughably described as the Labour Party’s “protectors of our victory”—and to cool down the heat generated by Phillippe Martinez’s shocking allegations of impropriety, inept management of the CIU, and suspect arrangements with supposed foreign investor-adventurers, complicit lawyers, and chameleonic sales agents.  

Hilaire’s discomfort throughout the pre-recorded charade was glaringly obvious as he stumbled over his contradicting lines. No surprise that his performance received mixed reviews even by his fan base. As for those who have always seen past his various transparent carnival masks, we were more than ever convinced Hilaire is well aware his political career is galloping free-rein toward its expiration date, that he has little chance of repeating the July 26, 2021 miracle and was doubtless hell-bent on making hay while still in a position to do so.

It is telling that instead of eagerly facing media reporters with potentially embarrassing questions about the Phillippe Martinez allegations, Hilaire chose to use his parliamentary privilege as a shield, or sought refuge behind contractual clauses that ostensibly place limitations on the transparency and accountability owed citizens of this country by our government. He has also exploited the “Statement by Ministers” rules that protect him from House challenges.   

As if further to boost his growing reputation as the Houdini of the House, Hilaire has so far escaped taking head-on questions generated by the publication on social media by Phillippe Martinez of three contracts: between the Citizenship by Investment Program and Caribbean Galaxy Real Estate (in 2022), the Government of Saint Lucia and Bemax LLC (in 2023), the Government of Saint Lucia and Caribbean Galaxy Real Estate (in 2024).These documents seem to suggest the minister with responsibility for the CIP has been more than ever economical with the truth when it comes to important information related to his portfolio. The people of Saint Lucia have been kept in the dark about the allocation of 11,628 citizenship/passports—valued at approximately $4.95 billion—in exchange for a mere EC$1.42 billion investment in the Honeymoon Hotel Development in Canelles, the Rockhall Housing Development and various other infrastructure projects not yet announced by the government, plus approximately EC$200 million in administration fees. This staggering EC$3.33 billion profit was apparently handed over to two foreign companies: one from China, the other from Serbia.

Meanwhile, Saint Lucians continue to be crushed by the brutal financial fall-out from the slowest-growing economy in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union in 2023. The people exist in fear in a country now plagued by possibly the highest homicide rate in the Caribbean, and among the top ten globally. Saint Lucians are forced to pay some of the highest prices for gas and diesel in the OECS, not to mention the daily horrors of a healthcare system that has been described by the St. Lucia Medical and Dental Association as the worst in the country’s history.

As if that were not horrible enough, 80% of the population cannot afford the miserable healthcare service. Meanwhile, the cost of living continues to spiral beyond the wallets of most citizens. Parents struggle to send their children to school. The country’s infrastructure, particularly its road network, has never been worse. Half of the $3.3 billion dollars profit gifted by the government to insatiable Chinese and Serbian businessmen would have delivered desperately needed relief to tens of thousands of our people. How can a government that pledged to “putting the people first” be so inconsiderate of their plight? What “people” did this unconscionable government have in mind?

Is there something even more sinister hidden beneath this government’s voluminous shrouds of political maneuvering, surreptitious deals, bold-faced lies, and blatant obfuscation? The answers may be forthcoming in the coming weeks and months as we learn more about the arrangements between the operators of CIP programs in our region and faceless thousands of seemingly suspect operators in China and the Middle East who, for the privilege of gaining Saint Lucian citizenship, are evidently ready to fork out millions of dollars to arrogant and selfish Caribbean politicians. Stay tuned.