THE opposition United Workers Party yesterday hailed the government’s decision to further reduce fuel prices as a victory not for itself but one for the people.
The UWP welcomed the reduction in rates—the second within the last four weeks— but said the government had now shown, “both in the last quarter and with this recent unplanned change, that there were substantial surpluses, but is yet to confirm who the beneficiary was. We are once again asking the government to bring clarity on this matter”.
The UWP said after weeks of persistent calls it welcomed the news of reduced prices on petroleum products.
“The UWP recognizes that while the next scheduled adjustment was slated for April 2015, the SLP Administration did the right thing, for once, and provided the much needed relief that Saint Lucians have been yearning for.
“This victory belongs, not only to the United Workers Party but to all Saint Lucians who feel the squeeze from high fuel prices, rising cost of living, VAT, unemployment, increase in water and light bills and VAT on non-prescription medication and boldly expressed their discontent through their participation in the 29th January 2015 march”.
It thanked everyone who came out to march adding that it was “the bravery of the thousands of Saint Lucians who exercised their democratic right that forced the Government to listen and to act”.
It promised to remain vigilant and a strong advocate for more balanced socio-economic policies.
Leader of the Opposition in the House of Assembly Dr. Gail Rigobert said Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony had finally conceded to “one of the several demands of Saint Lucians who have been reeling under the oppressive rule of this Labour Party Administration”.
She said notwithstanding the further price reductions taking effect yesterday, it was evident that for months, the Prime Minister had stubbornly chosen to ignore the calls of the people to adjust fuel prices downward in alignment with the sharp declines on the international market, in order to satisfy his Government’s self-serving interest.
“It had to take a peaceful march on January 29th, 2015, and the people’s expression of their universal dissatisfaction and discontent with the government’s failing policies to get the Prime Minister to act”, Rigobert said.
The government statement announcing the new reductions in rates said the move was consistent with the statements of the Prime Minister made earlier.
It said: “This decision follows a review of the three month pricing mechanism announced by the Prime Minister in his address to the nation. In that address, the Prime Minister said that ‘If the price of a barrel of oil declines even more sharply in the next few weeks, it may well make sense to adjust the period of calculation from a period of twelve weeks to eight weeks or even less in the short term.”
Added the government statement: “Having reviewed the movement of prices in the last few weeks, the government has decided that it makes sense to adopt a flexible approach to deal with the uncertainty that prevails in fuel prices. In this current period of lower fuel prices, the government will apply the pass through mechanism every three weeks to allow consumers to benefit from any further downward movement in prices. However, if prices show an upward movement, the Government will consider reverting to the three month pass through mechanism or a variation of it to restore greater stability in prices as it had done so successfully in the past three years”
“The price of unleaded gasolene was reduced from $13.65 to $10.65 a gallon….”
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Kenny and his inner-circle are finally starting to realize that a government of the people, by the people, and FOR THE PEOPLE is way better than a government of Kenny Anthony, by Kenny Anthony, and for Kenny Anthony; and that he was hired by the St.Lucian people to do their bidding and not his own.
If Kenny had the interest of the St.Lucian at heart, St.Lucians would have been paying $10.65 for gasoline since around Christmas.
I totally agree my brother, god job Kenny, it took you a while to wake up but you did, I guess you were not able to sleep well now you will snore….lol.
That’s all we’ve been asking for, now let’s get rid of VAT, you can do it Kenny….lol
Wicked PM dat! Made us suffer and only after allen chastanet marched he gave in. SLP not getting my vote ever again.
If anyone had read the SLP Administration’s Press Releases with quoted figures and read the online propaganda by party hacks who care nothing about the state of the nation, you would have sworn that the Government of St. Lucia was not siphoning off millions of dollars from the public through excessive gas prices – to cover for their failed economic policies and ignorance of governance.
I repeat. The present Administration printed off figures to indicate that they did not benefit from lower gas prices over the past year or less and yet we now see that retail prices have gone down by an additional $3.
If St. Lucians use 25,000 gallons daily of gasoline daily then we are looking at over $2 million going to the state on a monthly basis or $12 million in the past 6 months and that does not even take into account that the price was once $15 ! I would not be surprised if the actual figure is in excess of $30 million ! But this Administration and in its other incarnations has proven to be adept at lying and obsfucation to cover their sheer inability to do anything to improve this country.
So unless the Government is now SUBSIDIZING gasoline the reality is that it was undoubtedly benefiting from the high prices in spite of the massive fall in world prices.
In other words they lied repeatedly and low information St. Lucians actually believed the lies when a simple objective analysis would have shown they were being bamboozled.
This raises the more important point of the cluelessness of the average voter worldwide and the liberal matrix they operate in and the nonsense they believe.
Like all true liberal governments this one is proving to be best when attacking success and making noise and creating roro and destroying people on a personal level. They are fantastic in opposition but useless in governance and in leading countries.
When it comes to governance and making a country better we see that they are all hot air and produce nothing.