At a recent meeting of the United Workers Party (UWP), its leader, Allen Chastanet, told members and supporters in attendance that he didn’t know what putting people first meant or how it works. Additionally, he questioned how a country could be successful with such an ideology or policy. He was, of course, referring to the Saint Lucia Labour Party’s (SLP) 2021 campaign pledge of “…putting people first…” and its demonstrated actions of executing the pledge now that it is in government. But, first, let’s take a look at Chastanet’s above mentioned statements.
On the face of it, the two statements appear to be contradictory. Here’s why. By questioning any successful outcome(s) related to the SLP’s overarching policy, Chastanet implies that he does understand it. Or else, how could he associate it with failure if he hadn’t done an evaluation or analysis of its pros and cons beforehand to determine its soundness. But, immediately prior to arriving at his finding of failure related to “…putting people first…”, he stated that he doesn’t know what it means or how it works! The two statements, then, when placed side by side, are at odds with each other.
Now, let’s clarify exactly what the SLP’s “…putting people first…” means or implies. By now, everyone must agree, whether SLP, UWP, or Independent, that while government(s) may set policies, a country’s people must be at the heart of those policies. No government policy can, or should, exist separately or independently from the people whose interests the government was elected to serve! Simply put, any such policy must benefit the people of the country. In the light of this, it isn’t hard to understand or perceive the full significance or intent behind an SLP campaign slogan which became a broad-ranging government policy. And there’s a backstory to Chastanet’s denunciation of this, too, which we’ll get to a bit later. First, three (3) subcomponents of the government’s all-encompassing prescription.
Let’s begin with education.
Here’s a short list of some of the investments being made by the SLP government:
- Laptops for secondary school student
- Hundreds of thousands of dollars in bursaries for new entrants into secondary schools
- Payment of CXCs for students
- $1400 cash allowances for teachers to purchase tools/materials to enhance their delivery of classroom lessons
- Hundreds of new scholarships so students can attend university
- $3000 subvention for Early Childhood Centers
All of this, and more, so our people can be lifted out of poverty, not by giving them money, but through education as posited by Arthur Lewis-our Nobel Laureate in Economics. And it’s also in keeping with the SLP Government’s stated goal of “…at least one university graduate per household….”
Then, there’s the Youth Economy Agency (YEA). For many years, young people had been complaining about the dearth of entrepreneurship opportunities available to them because they lacked the cash/capital to start their own businesses. And the loans offered by financial institutions were prohibitive in several respects. Although there were government and private sector employment prospects open to some of them, they preferred the freedom and flexibility of pursuing their own self-employment dreams. With grants of up to $5,000, loans up to $30,000 with an interest rate of only 3% per year and a six-year repayment period, and free training in various business areas, young people are hailing the YEA, established by the SLP Government, as a godsend.
Minimum wage legislation had been promised by several administrations in the past. Although a few had begun the process, time and again it had been shelved for various reasons, including the Chamber of Commerce’s well-worn ‘argument’ that Saint Lucia was “…not yet ready…” for it. Earlier this year, this SLP administration finally made the legislation a reality. And it wasn’t a fait accompli as usually happens under UWP administrations. There was a series of consultations headed by a team composed of legal minds, trade union experts, businesspeople, and financial experts; they met with business leaders (Chamber of Commerce and Saint Lucia Employers’ Federation), Trade Union representatives, Department of Labour experts, as well as other government officials. They also gathered minimum wage and other data from other OECS territories before arriving at a decision.
The team’s job was done when they handed a comprehensive report detailing their terms of reference, various consultations, data gathered along with the sources of such data, and the methodology used for calculating the minimum wage to the government. So, today, under the legislation, nobody who works an 8-hour day receives less than $1100+ per month. This is a far cry from the days, not too long ago, when many workers received wages as low as $300 monthly from unscrupulous employers who took advantage of the absence of minimum wage legislation.
And as for Chastanet’s not knowing or understanding what the “…putting people first…” policy is about? It’s simple, really! Allen Chastanet doesn’t care to know or understand anything that has to do with putting Saint Lucians first. He continues to see everything through the lens of his Friends, Family, and Foreigners (FFF) policy. What this means is: another Allen Chastanet administration will continue to pursue that FFF policy with a vengeance. Be warned!