While self-seeking politicians continue to spout obvious lines, the people await the delivery of St. Jude hospital, at last!

With everyone tripping over themselves to have their say on the tenth anniversary of the tragic St. Jude Hospital fire, it was hardly surprising to hear the obvious being repeatedly stated. On September 10, the SLP, by press release, joined the dog pile. After predictably blaming the state of healthcare on the “callous and heartless” Allen Chastanet administration, the SLP congratulated itself on almost completing the reconstruction in over four and a half years.  

“It is important to underscore,” the press release stated, “that tens of millions of dollars were donated by many foreign governments toward the rehabilitation of the St. Jude Hospital, which was nearing completion when this wicked and uncaring administration took over the levers of power on June 6th 2016.“

Worth pondering are the related words of then prime minister Dr. Kenny Anthony. In a May 20, 2016 address he said, “Fellow citizens, I address you tonight on the date for the next general election in our country. As you are probably aware, the fifth anniversary of the last general election is November 28, 2016. Our Constitution says in section 55(2) that ‘Parliament unless sooner dissolved shall continue for five years from the date of the first sitting of the House after any dissolution and shall then stand dissolved’. This would mean that general elections are constitutionally due, at the latest, three months after the first sitting of Parliament, which was held on 5 January, 2012. In effect, the government would have had until 5 April, 2017 to call elections.”

The then government chose to forego that option. The rest has been consigned to the annals of Saint Lucia’s electoral waste bin. But I digress. Per the boast of the previously mentioned SLP press release: “The hospital, which was six months away from completion, could have been finished with the loan funds of US$20 million that were made available by the ROC (Taiwan) and partially drawn down.”

Why then, did the SLP call a snap general election, if the 80% reconstructed St Jude could have been finished in six months? Dr. Anthony offered this explanation: “I have decided, in the interest of our country, to call the general election several months ahead of its due date to ensure peace, stability and certainty in our country and its affairs.” (See “The Die is Cast” address to the Nation, May 20, 2016.) He neglected to mention precisely how calling early elections and engaging in campaigns that predictably set Saint Lucians against Saint Lucians, could on the particular occasion ensure “stability and certainty”.

What a boost to the SLP campaign the delivery of a promised state of the art St. Jude might’ve been. Sadly, in this writer’s view, our politicians seem convinced that playing a St. Jude blame game in 2019 will deliver benefits all around. As Rick Wayne reminded readers last week, we tend to recall only what at the moment is convenient. Consider this, from Dr. Anthony as prime minister in 2015: “Mr. Speaker, a tremendous amount of work has been undertaken at the St. Jude Hospital. Last year, approximately $13.18 million was spent on infrastructural works and this year a further $49.13 million will be expended. It is anticipated that the new hospital will be commissioned this financial year.”

We know now this was plain pie in the sky. 

Not to be outdone by her leader, in a Facebook post dated 25 May, 2016, Health Minister Alvina Reynolds predicted: “When the construction of St. Jude Hospital is completed, which we anticipate will happen toward the end of this year, the residents of the south of the island in particular, and the people of Saint Lucia in general, will be extremely pleased and proud of the end product. We will have a new St. Jude that is equal to the Owen King-EU Hospital.” 

More proof that Kenny Anthony’s snap elections announcement caught his own party with their undies around their ankles. There was the MP Reynolds talking May 25 about the delivery of St. Jude, with elections secretly scheduled for June 6 that year!   

Surprisingly, one politician decided to buck the trend of the typical St Jude partisan mudslinging. On Wednesday, Stephenson King declared: “To know that despite all the pain and suffering of workers, the families who lost loved ones and the experience of the night of the fire—I personally and physically was present on that night—and the decisions that were made to relocate the operations of the hospital to the comprehensive school and
then to the stadium. I believe that, ten years later, the fact that we have failed to deliver to the people of Saint Lucia a proper facility to replace the burned-out facility, or to redevelop the existing facility, is unpardonable. We all must take blame for not completing the facility within the ten years.”

Alas taking blame is not the same as delivering to the people a vital promise long overdue!