Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre labeled Allen Chastanet’s reason for his budget debate walkout “a lame duck excuse.” PM Pierre, into his second term after the resounding December 1st, 2025, election victory, delivered a record-breaking $2.18 billion Income and Expenditure Budget address on March 24th, 2026. The evening session saw a number of parliamentary representatives rise to deliver their respective addresses. Leader of the Opposition Allen Chastanet, who is currently the lone opposition member, contends that Prime Minister Pierre closed the session with two important members yet to speak. He further explained that the two parliamentary representatives who did not speak would have been critical to his submission. Last week, former Parliamentary Representative for Central Castries Sarah Flood-Beaubrun, took to the airwaves to condemn the Prime Minister for what she thought was “bullying” and “arrogance” on his part.
When questioned Tuesday, at the weekly government press briefing on the issue, PM Pierre attempted to make clear that he was not able to decide who could speak and in what order they would do so. He reiterated that the Speaker of the House is the ultimate authority and governs its operations, guided by regulations. He was adamant that Opposition Leader Chastanet had ample time to make his submissions in the morning session and in the evening session. Pierre reminded that when he was in opposition he spoke immediately after the prime minister delivered the estimates of revenue and expenditure, particularly because the response of the leader of the opposition had to be in response to the submissions of the prime minister’s address and was not contingent on the submissions of other parliamentary representatives.
PM Pierre says he marked Chastanet’s reason as a poor excuse for not representing the people of Micoud South who voted for and elected him as their representative. He noted that Micoud South, through their elected representative, will receive their allotted allocation under the Community Development Program (CDP) unlike what he suffered under the Chastanet administration. Pierre insist that he would have liked to hear the response of the Leader of the Opposition to the estimates of the revenue and expenditure.