St. Lucians had the opportunity of hearing firsthand from the former prime minister regarding his plans for his constituency for the next two years and hopefully, the individuals who were anxious to see the departure of his administration from office will now concentrate on running the country.
We make these comments based on the premise that over 1,000 construction workers have been laid off, over 95 truck owners and 35 heavy equipment owners all remain idle. The first question we pose to the Pierre administration is, does that contravene his party slogan of putting people first? And secondly where is the replaced income fee to originate from? As an accountant Mr. Pierre is fully aware that statistically every worker feeds four persons, so that boils down to 5,000 persons on the breadline.
The trickle-down effect first affects the economy which is already under pressure from the effects of Covid, so that in itself makes a bad situation worse. In the former prime minister’s address to the public, it was very clear to all and sundry that there was absolutely no animosity in his response to the nation despite the manner in which he was unnecessarily maligned but remains steadfast in assisting as many St. Lucians as possible based on a worldwide changing work atmosphere, bearing in mind, that some 30 million Americans have now withdrawn their services from the workplace.
The former prime minister has wasted little time after his much-needed vacation to get involved within the financial sector in North America where his skills have been recognized and appreciated. On the other hand, this opening gave him the opportunity of improving his developmental skills which has always been his passion, so we sincerely trust that the same persons who endorsed the lies and misinformation will be around to judge for themselves the setbacks created by their misjudgments.
The signs of divisiveness within the current administration are already manifesting themselves, as individuals who are not fully engrained as party members hold different views on the way forward and will always become a recipe for disaster. A similar situation currently exists in the U.S.A as Mr. Manchin and Madame Sinema are how holding President Biden to ransom by not endorsing his 3.1 trillion-dollar stimulus plan despite being true and staunch democrats. These hiccups are not only hurtful, but destructive within a Covid environment where deep rooted reconciliation efforts remain the password of the day.
It is confounding to me how few people understand what is acceptable in a democratic society. Chastanet awarded the St. Jude’s Hospital Project to Fresh-Start without the requisite bidding process. This by itself is a flagrant violation of the rules of open competitive bidding. In all developed countries, Chastanet would be prosecuted for such wanton disregard of basis rules. He doesn’t believe in the rule of law; he thinks the constitution is too complicated.
Confusion was a motif of the Chastanet’s administration, and its approach to the pandemic and awarding of contracts was no exception. Chastanet doesn’t know that disaster response requires discipline and adherence to a clear chain of command, not the move-fast-and break-things approach of start-up culture.
Chastanet is an abysmal failure and should be consigned to the dustbin of history. His name will be written in water and will not be recognized in the history of St. Lucia. Soon he will be wiped away like a footprint in the sand.