The Saint Lucia Labour Party is expressing solidarity with the protesting students of the Choiseul Secondary School. Students last week protested over the deplorable conditions of the school and the slow pace at which the UWP government is proceeding to address the situation.
The Labour Party wishes to state that when in government it was aware of the deplorable conditions at the school and had sourced funding for construction of a new wing to replace the dilapidated structure. The wing is to accommodate among other facilities, twelve classrooms, physics and chemistry laboratories, music and theatre rooms.
When the SLP lost power in June 2016, the public invitations to tender for construction had been circulated. All structural, engineering and tender documents had been prepared and approved. All that was left to be done was an evaluation of the tender documents, which is the final stage before an award could be made to a suitable contractor.
The SLP says that after five months it is totally unacceptable that the evaluation has not taken place for such a critical project. It begs the questions whether the government is trying to select a contractor of its choice without public tender as it has done with numerous projects, is just incompetent or is being vindictive in trying to stop any project that the former SLP administration had started.
The Labour Party is calling on the UWP administration to put the welfare of the children of Saint Lucia first and immediately commence the evaluation process to address the situation.
LOL…what about the Vieux Fort Hospital? We need Alvina to come tell us that it will be finished by the end of the year.