THE Political Leader of the Saint Labour Party, and Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, received a unanimous vote of confidence at the closed session of the Annual General Meeting of the party, held in the constituency of Dennery North, on Sunday, November 24.
Now, what does a unanimous vote for a political leader of a party means? Very simply, it means that all the voting delegates at the conference, and there were 261 such votes cast to express confidence in the political leader and Prime Minister. In the Westminster model of parliamentary governance, which Saint Lucia follows, this process is quite legal.
It means that the delegates at the conference agree on the political and social policies and activities of the Leader and his government.
The delegates at the conference are representatives from all the 17 constituencies represented by the Saint Lucia Labour Party.
The Political leader and Prime Minister has been pointedly consistent in improving the economic and social environments in Saint Lucia for the people. And the delegates of the SLP Annual Conference have recognised that and acknowledged that effort with their unanimous vote.
Indeed, Saint Lucians have continually applauded the PJP administration for its forthright approach in dealing with their bread and butter and other economic matters.
What is the present economic situation in Saint Lucia? Tourism, the island’s biggest industry and main source of jobs, income and foreign exchange, accounts for 65-70% of the country’s Gros Domestic Product, GDP. Agriculture, which was once the mainstay of the economy, now contributes to about 5% of GDP, but continues to account for about 25% of jobs. Manufacturing has been providing strong support to bolstering the economic situation.
Indeed, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development, Honourable Alfred Prospere, is exerting a lot of energy in trying to improve banana production and the fisheries sector.
The Honourable Emma Hippolyte, Minister for Commerce, Manufacturing, Business development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs is moving briskly with that sector. Very recently, I heard her saying that her consumer officers will be monitoring prices on the shelves of supermarkets in particular to ensure that prices of items are correct.
I have highlighted Tourism, the money earner; Agriculture, Manufacturing and Commerce for obvious reasons. The country needs finance, and the people need food to meet their basic needs that Abraham Maslow emphasises.
I have noted, in several places in this article, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). What is GDP? A simple definition is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country.
It is important to investigate the current economic performance of our country. Saint Lucia’s Economic Freedom score is about 65%, making its economy the 64th freest in the 2024 Index of Economic Freedom.
What is economic freedom? Economic freedom is the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labour and property.
Now the SLP Political leader and Prime Minister is an economist by profession. So, it is not strange that he conceptualised the Youth Economy Programme which has given scores of young people economic freedom. And that programme is doing extremely well.
Now, the more income the Minister of Tourism, Honourable Ernest Hilaire can generate for our country, the more our citizens will enjoy economic freedom.
In conclusion, I wish to say that the more our country improves economically, the more the Prime Minister will make the benefits available to the people of Saint Lucia.