The phrase “he’s not worth the salt on your glass” is an idiom that means someone is not worth the effort or investment. It suggests that the person is not valuable or deserving of such effort.
That phase is presently resonating in Saint Lucia because of its inclusion in a song by Country singer Gretchen Wilson – a very popular song of the Country and Western genre; Saint Lucians dance to this song all across the country.
Its popularity aside, this song title is worthy of consideration when it comes to evaluating the political figures who offer themselves to the electorate come election day.
In our cross-hairs today is the political leader of the United Workers Party (UWP), Allen Chastanet, who led his party to victory in 2016 in that year’s general elections, sitting for the first time as Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister.
Chastanet’s UWP lost the 2021 general elections to the Saint Lucia Labour Party in a humiliating defeat (winning only two seats in the 17 seat House of Assembly). Today he is seeking to win more seats, even stating that his party will win the next general elections.
Taking into consideration Chastanet’s personal stewardship as Prime Minister between 2016 and 2021 and that of his party during the same period, the question: “Is he worth the salt on the glass of the voting public,” is relevant today.
It is a spicy way to ask if Allen Chastanet still holds political weight. An answer we know depends on the side of the Saint Lucian political cocktail from which you are sipping.
His supporters say he’s a seasoned leader with a clear vision, despite the United Workers Party’s crushing defeat in 2021. He remains unchallenged today as the political leader of the UWP and as opposition leader in parliament. But even as he claims that the UWP is modernized and ready to take Saint Lucia to the next level, his critics argue his leadership has soured and some voters feel disconnected from his image and rhetoric, especially after controversial remarks on colonization and race. His attempts to connect with everyday Saint Lucians—like picking guavas and drinking coconut water—were seen by some as gimmicky and out of touch. His recent comments about CARICOM and regional integration were not only viewed as reckless coming from a former Prime Minister, but also viewed as someone who has no idea about the geo-politics of the region.
This year, Chastanet is seen to be struggling to regain traction as he pushes the UWP to focus more on drama rather than seeking solutions to the problems he claimed Saint Lucia is confronted with under the present administration.
Meeting after meeting sees members of the UWP struggling to present to the Saint Lucian people a blueprint for economic growth should they, by some miracle, win the upcoming general elections. Nothing they have presented to date is original, repeating the same, lame rhetoric which Saint Lucians rejected in 2021.
To the UWP, it is all about improving the country’s health care system, reining in the crime monster and bad management of the Citizenship by Investment Programme, rhetoric which they used when they were in power during the years 2016 – 2021. Sadly, during those years they claimed to have improved the health care system but could not show how that improvement benefited the various groups of people in Saint Lucia. It was no wonder that they suffered such a crushing defeat at the 2021 polls.
With respect to the crime monster, it was under the Allen Chastanet administration that Saint Lucia first recorded 60 homicides in a year and that was in 2017, the end of his first year in office.
And as for claiming bad management of the CIP under this government, it was Chastanet who first tampered with the sale price of passports. (More on the CIP under the Allen Chastanet administration in a subsequent commentary).
And let us not forget Chastanet’s reckless claim that countries of the European Union had withdrawn visa access by citizens of Saint Lucia and other OECS countries. That false claim was made in the House of Assembly earlier this month. When challenged on the authenticity of the claim by Prime Minister Pierre and other ministers, Chastanet was forced to retract his statement.
These and other false claims made by Chastanet, just this year alone, is mind boggling hereby forcing every voter in the country to ask the question: is Allen Chastanet worth the salt on the glass of voters of this country?
While we do understand that that is a question for voters, even first-time voters, when the time comes for them to place their ballots, we must point out that this question is of utmost importance every single day as they observe the machinations of the UWP in preparation for general elections.