Opposition Leader Allen Chastanet’s latest declaration, that he will “finish St. Jude Hospital once and for all” if elected, is not just political theater. It is an insult. An insult to memory, to struggle, and most of all, to the people of the South who have waited far too long for a functioning hospital while promises piled up like dust on derelict construction blocks.
To hear Chastanet speak now, one would think he was champion of healthcare. But Saint Lucians remember differently.
We remember that under his administration, St. Jude Hospital stood still, untouched, unchanged, unfixed, for almost three years. We remember patients forced to receive care in a makeshift stadium. We remember doctors and nurses raising the alarm while his government remained indifferent.
We remember the debt that ballooned. The promises that vanished. The arrogance of leadership that refused to listen.
So, when Chastanet now claims, with a straight face, that he will complete St. Jude, when Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre announced just one day earlier that the hospital is already completed and commissioning will begin in the coming days, we are not hearing a plan. We are hearing desperation.
Prime Minister Pierre’s address was clear, factual, and grounded in delivery!
“The construction of the buildings at St. Jude Hospital are completed. The hospital is ready to be commissioned, with phase one of the transition commencing in the next few days.”
This did not happen by magic. It happened through leadership, through discipline, through patience, and through partnership, including securing critical funding from the Government of Saudi Arabia. This was no small feat, and certainly not one accomplished by the previous administration.
Let us be honest, if Allen Chastanet wanted to finish St. Jude, he had five years and full control of the government to do it.
He did not.
Instead, the United Workers Party left the country with a stalled hospital project, a healthcare system that continued to deteriorate, a national debt that climbed sharply, and no meaningful progress on implementing Universal Health Care.
Meanwhile, under the Pierre Administration, St. Jude Hospital has been completed, and Universal Health Care now guarantees free essential care for expectant mothers and patients with non-communicable diseases. The national debt has been cut from its 2021 peak, the economy stabilized, and healthcare is finally back on a path that puts people, not politics, first.
So, when Chastanet claims, “We will restore quality, affordable healthcare… no more broken promises.”
Saint Lucians must ask: Whose promises were broken in the first place?
This sudden concern for St. Jude is not compassion.
It is campaign strategy, rushed, hollow, and unconvincing.
The people of the South have suffered enough waiting.
They do not need more speeches.
They need the keys to a hospital door that finally opens.
And that, at long last, is what they are about to receive.
Allen Chastanet’s words come too late.
This is not his victory to claim.
This is not his promise to re-package.
And this is not his project to finish.
History remembers.
And so do we.