Opposition Boycotts Throne Speech… Again!

Opposition parliamentarians and senators have once again boycotted Governor General Sir Neville Cenac’s Throne Speech. In keeping with social distancing measures amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Cenac delivered his 2020 speech to the joint sitting of the House of Assembly and Senate today, April 28, via a live video feed. Members of the Opposition showed no signs of letting bygones be bygones, and did not turn up for the address.

Cenac, who was sworn in as Saint Lucia’s Governor General on January 12 2018, delivered his maiden Throne Speech on March 20, 2018. The Opposition was absent. At a press conference prior to Cenac’s appointment, Castries East MP Philip J. Pierre indicated that there was no consultation with the Opposition before a decision was made. The Opposition Leader said that Prime Minister Allen Chastanet ought to have followed the convention of good governance practice, and consult him on the appointment.

Also, “I am aware that supporters, and particularly the constituents of Laborie, remain disgusted and hurt by events surrounding the switching of political allegiances by the current governor general for the 1987 general elections,” Pierre said.

Vieux Fort North MP Moses Baptiste told the media: “Never was such an act of political treachery perpetrated on the people of Saint Lucia, and it, along with its perpetrator, will live on in the political history of this country…Prime Minister Allen Chastanet’s appointment of Neville Cenac to the position of governor general is to desecrate the inner sanctum of this high office.”

In 2019, the Opposition remained steadfast in their position and did not attend the event. Laborie MP Alva Baptiste told the media then: “We cannot be seating in the very same parliament where Mr. Neville Cenac crossed the floor and listen to him in a joint sitting.”

Watch Sir Neville Cenac’s 2020 Throne Speech by clicking the link below: https://www.facebook.com/SaintLuciaGovernment/videos/228942991853949/