Prime Minister Philip Pierre Demonstrated unwavering Support to “Putting People First” before and during the passage of Hurricane Beryl.
As soon as weather officials announced that Hurricane Beryl was heading westward towards the Winward Islands, the Prime Minister put his leadership skills and humanity to work.
It was known that Hurricane Beryl was a category Four hurricane and that it was moving at a speed of 13 miles an hour.
The Office of the Prime Minister immediately began to release information to the Saint Lucian community.
The information from the Prime Minister’s office gave members of the public specific details on the impending weather system and what they were required to do.
In the meantime, information was coming from the National Hurricane Centre, the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) and various district emergency organisations in Saint Lucia.
Now it is important to understand that the prime minister himself appeared on television and made announcements on radio throughout the passage of Hurricane Beryl which had been downgraded to a storm for Saint Lucia.
In his conversation he constantly informed the Saint Lucian public that the Cabinet of Ministers had met and many important decisions had been taken. More than that, he informed that the Parliamentary Representatives were feeding information to his office and to him personally which enabled him to be well informed of all matters relating to their constituencies.
In the true spirit of leadership and love for his people, the Prime Minister was invited and expected to attend a community youth awards ceremony which was organised by the Castries East Youth and Sports Council. He was invited as the parliamentary representative for Castries East. However, during the ceremony, which I attended, the Master of Ceremony announced that the prime minister was unable to attend the ceremony because he was very busy attending to matters of the nation related to the Hurricane Beryl.
Now, this speaks volumes of an effective leader and compassionate human being!
Indeed, after the passage of the storm, the prime minister travelled personally to the various areas that were severely damaged by Beryl to assess, first hand, the extent of the damage to various areas such as the districts of Soufriere and Laborie, among others.
We are very happy that no deaths had occurred during the passage of Beryl. We have to thank the ‘Grand Master of the Universe’ for that and for the country being able to reopen on Tuesday, July 2 at 5:00 a.m.
Seriously affected by the Beryl were banana farmers, fishermen and community spaces like the Soufriere Cemetery.
During the aftermath, I heard the Minister for Agriculture, Alfred Prospere speak of the prime minister making an allocation of $600,000 in the 2024-2025 budget to assist farmers. No doubt that amount would have to be further increased to include our fishermen.
I have every reason to be assured that the prime minister and his Cabinet of Ministers will do all that is necessary to bring relief to the people affected by the storm, and rebuild our beautiful nation as quickly as possible.
May God continue to bless and guide Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre and his government with long life, courage, resilience and many years of effective leadership of this nation.