Prime Minister Allen Chastanet has taken the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) to task for the party’s recent protest march. Held on October 4, hundreds of placard-bearing supporters marched from the Vigie Playing Field to the Castries Market Steps, to show their discontent with the current administration. The march was followed by a political meeting, with appearances by various speakers including Opposition parliamentarians and former government minister Richard Frederick.
Speaking at today’s House of Assembly sitting, Chastanet criticized the party for hosting the event. “You know what’s sad Mr. Speaker?” the prime minister asked. “Is that instead of the members on the opposite side, who say that they put people first, joining in and being champions of coexisting with COVID… as the state of emergency came to an end in this country, a group of persons who say that they put people first, went out and had a march.
“Until that date, Saint Lucia was being revered. Twenty-eight cases, nobody had died …Immediately upon having the march, within ten days we started seeing an increase in cases.”
Clarifying his comments, Chastanet said he was not saying that the increase was entirely the SLP’s fault, “but the fact is exactly what I’ve been saying. We are here fighting for the lives of the average person in this country every single day, and what it requires us to do is the right thing. It is to do the right thing! It is not to play cheap politics at the expense of everybody else and pretend that you are putting those people first, when the only persons you were trying to benefit is yourselves.”
The prime minister says that one “cannot speak on both sides of your mouth.” The COVID-19 situation, he says, requires all to speak from the same hymn book. “Let us put the people of this country first, let us not play divisive politics. What was the purpose of the march? What did we achieve? Instead of the members on the other side showing leadership, and saying ‘yes we wanted to have a march but we think in this particular time, we’re not going to take that chance’, they couldn’t wait Mr. Speaker!” he declared.
Chastanet concluded: “So while one may not be able to directly link anything, one cannot also say they did not contribute. It was irresponsible! And that is the change that we need in this country. What the people of this country need is leadership! That’s what they need, and leadership that is dedicated to the benefit of the people of this country.”
Meanwhile, the SLP has previously stated that the party acts within the law and that permission for the protest march and rally was granted by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sharon Belmar-George:
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