So the political leader of the UWP started his ‘election date response’ speech projecting faith, works, action, renewal and change, but could not uphold the spirit of these nice words for the duration of the 11-minute speech.
His attempt at a pious introduction, invoking James 2:18, “Show me your faith by your works”, is a better description of the performance of the Saint Lucia Labour Party Government – led by their mild-mannered, but intelligent, focused, hard-working Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Philip J Pierre, over the last four-and-a-half years.
All Allen Chastanet’s stated examples of “action” during his 2016-2021 administration have been surpassed and out-done by the Philip J Pierre government in the last four-and-half years. Some of Chastanet’s references were: response to Covid-19, management of VAT to ease cost of living, support for farmers, job creation, road construction, more accessible public assistance, and distribution of ebooks to young people.
Genuine faith is demonstrated through action, not just belief,” Chastanet preached, in his attempt to paraphrase James 2:18 to his advantage. The thing about lifting scripture references willy-nilly, mainly for self-promotion, is that there is always some other text in the Bible to incite debate.
Chastanet should also consider Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, (9) not by works so that no one can boast.”
At least he could have taken back his infamous assertion (also made in Parliament) that the six opposition SLP parliamentarians of 2016-2021 had lost their right to speak because their party had lost the general election. This attack on the constitutional obligations of elected officials was a prelude to what later became known here as the ‘Belrose Doctrine’, what the SLP refers to as a deliberate Chastanet policy of starving opposition-held constituencies of their right to state resources for the physical and social development of the constituencies.
In his ‘election date speech’, introduced by the National Anthem and delivered against a set and backdrop to cast himself as a head of government, Chastanet couldn’t help himself, questioning the timing of the elections that his Party had been demanding in forceful language over the last several months.
This is how Chastanet simply acquiesced to the Prime Minister’s announcement of the election date: “The Prime Minister has announced that the next general election will be on December 1st, almost one year before it was constitutionally due. Whilst I’m ready for the change, I want you to know that in these four years, I’ve listened more, learned more, and grown more than ever before. I’m not the same man I was in 2021. I am firm, fearless, and focused, asking the hard questions and finding the real solutions to make your lives better”.
So he waited until the dissolution of parliament to ‘attempt’ to acknowledge the general criticism of his arrogance and difficulty in connecting to the working class. The word ‘attempt’ is appropriate here because Chastanet later uttered a few lines that undermined what must have been the intended central message of personal growth and change of his speech.
He bellyached: “And now with an election called months ahead of time, you have to ask, what are they running from? After years of betrayal, corruption, and Neglect, is this early election just their final attempt to pull the wool over your eyes before the truth finally catches up to them? Is this early election their attempt to get ahead of the outrage before you can ask the real questions?”
Before the election date announcement, the UWP had placed a special urgency on early general elections, as represented in the words of Party PRO, Lennard Mountoute, some 14 months ago:
“I think St Lucians should ensure and force an early election. Because if Saint Lucia has to continue on this trajectory, by the time the term is up, there will be no Saint Lucia to rescue,” the UWP Public Relations Officer asserted. (‘St Lucia Times’ 24 Sept 2024)
Deputy Political Leader Guy Joseph echoed Montoute’s call, suggesting that if citizens mobilise against the current administration’s failings, “an early election could become a reality.”
They asked for it, they got it, and then the Political Leader now suggests that the election is being called to hide, or run away from evil deeds. Make that make sense. General elections provide voters with the opportunity to change or renew the leadership of the country. Which government calls an election to run away from something? Chastanet’s statement can be interpreted as an attempt sow the seeds of discord, if and when the UWP loses the election.
Here is another Chastanet classic: “And with the unusually early election, I had to ask, are we really better off today than we were in 2019 pre covid? And every time I’ve asked that question, the response has been a simple No.”
Who is saying, ‘no’? Don’t these people want early elections?
Big surprise: The “changed” and “fearless” former Prime Minister left out the darker side of his 2016-2021 administration – all the abuse of power and scandals – WePay, Pajoah, Range, botched $7.3M Covid-19 vaccine order, travel expense extravagance, disrespect for the Constitution, freezing or discontinuation of infrastructural works and social projects inherited from the previous administration, including the St Jude Hospital reconstruction project), which he and his Economic Affairs Minister turned into a political football, and left incomplete at tremendous additional cost.
Mr Chastanet may wish to reflect on this piece of scripture as he begs voters for a second chance: “They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their guilt; He will punish their sins. (Hosea 9:9, KJV)