Recently, Saint Lucia has witnessed a troubling surge in fabricated articles and fraudulent social media posts targeting Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre and Opposition Leader Allen Chastanet. These false narratives, designed to mislead the public and sow confusion, represent a dangerous trend that threatens the very fabric of our society.
The boldness of the pranksters behind these false narratives is their audacity to use a fake design of THE VOICE Newspaper and a fake design of The Voice Website as vessels to spread their false narratives. Not only has the Office of the Prime Minister categorically denied such articles and their contents as false, incorrect, dishonest, deceitful, bogus, and the list goes on, but the Opposition Leader, Allen Chastanet, has done the same.
The latest fictitious article falsely attributed to the Voice Newspaper claimed that residents of Saint Lucia would start receiving from the government headed by Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, income from taxes.
Not satisfied with Philip J Pierre, the pranksters started targeting the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, which has alerted the public to fraudulent advertisements using Chastanet’s image to promote investment schemes and solicit money. Both the prime minister’s office and the opposition leader’s office have clarified that these claims are entirely false and have no connection to them or their official roles.
This wave of misinformation must be stopped, as it is an attack on Pierre and Chastanet and our nation’s integrity. By spreading falsehoods, pranksters and malicious actors are undermining trust in our leaders and institutions, creating division, and distracting from the real issues that require our collective attention, like violent crime, for instance, which has already taken 16 lives in the country.
Irrespective of each Saint Lucian’s political affiliation, Saint Lucia cannot afford to be consumed by hatred and deceit. This country is built on values of unity, respect, and progress, underscored by the sacrifices our forefathers made to bring Saint Lucia up to the height it is today. The deliberate spread of fake news and fraudulent content is a betrayal of these values and serves no purpose other than to harm our nation and its people.
We call on those responsible for spreading false information about our leaders to cease their actions immediately. Spreading false images and fake news articles about anyone yields no benefit. Instead, we urge all Saint Lucians to exercise caution when viewing and sharing content online. Verify the authenticity of the information before sharing it, and report suspicious content to the relevant platforms.
Let us stand united against the tide of misinformation and hatred. Saint Lucia deserves better. Our leaders, regardless of political affiliation, deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. But most importantly, our people deserve to live in a society where truth and integrity prevail.
While there may indeed be several reasons for our current predicament, the political tribalism into which we have dived can be blamed on a kind of “sickness”, where every citizen is now fair game for abuse and the spread of lies. We cannot reiterate enough how devastating that kind of behaviour is for the country, and we need to stop it right now!