By Special contributor
RODNEY BAY, St Lucia – The downward trendline of Allen Chastanet’s United Workers Party, by definition, (UWP – Political Club), and their awkwardness, have once again attempted mindless droppings “Save Our Saint Lucia (SOS-7), on tenterhooks to gain traction.
Already, the UWP – Political Club is not credible within its central core, and more broadly, with the general public of Saint Lucia, and now suffers an ongoing electoral decline leading into the 2025/26 general election. And according to election observers, [with any degree of accuracy and crystal ball] anticipates a November/ December 2025 election. However, government sources say otherwise to evident signals and uptick in the political atmosphere, the electoral department preparations, election paraphernalia and financing that is closely monitored.
Allen Chastanet’s UWP Political Club is very much aware that their political popularity is fading in electoral reporting to date, polls and ongoing data tabulation that are unfavourable. And more directly at the leadership, to grasp sympathy and support within the 43 percenters, impressionable minds, the undecided and new voters, the UWP Political Club flipped out SOS-7. The irony is, ‘Five to Stay Alive’ and the shady deals that were defeated in 2021 are now being remodelled in SOS-7.
Ideally, termination with the voting finger is an urgent adaptation!
What is UWP SOS-7?
The UWP SOS-7 is inconclusive. Not even the UWP strategist and politicos can explain with any degree of proficiency.
Let’s pause to take that in.
Is SOS-7 a “ Plan”, “ Policy,” or “ Programme?”
A “Plan” comprises detailed steps and/or methods to achieve a specific goal or purpose.
A “Policy” is a proclamation of principles, defining a course of action that provides a basis for consistent decision-making and specific procedures which outline the steps to implement the policy.
A “Programme” is a plan of activities to achieve a specific goal.
To advance UWP SOS-7, it is said that “SOS plan inspires Lucians,” and that there is “a renewed UWP with a plan to save Saint Lucia.”
The enquiry is: To save Saint Lucia from “whom” and for “what”?
UWP SOS-7 includes: ● Remove the 2.5% levy ● Reduce gas prices within 30 days ● Introduce National Health Insurance Coverage for all (75,000 coverage) ● Introduce free tertiary education at SALCC● Pay pension to banana farmers who did not pay NIC ● Remove the Dam Dredging fee for residents of the south ● Reintroduction of Border Control and Expansion of the K-9 unit.
UWP SOS-7 antics cannot be interpreted as a blend between the old and the new UWP. Navigating this is dangerously behind the curve, part of a revisionist plan of 2021 and their intentions to twist hearts and minds. Back then, it failed miserably! In this scenario, it’s easy to say no, with the use of the voting finger, “for a good cause,” cites Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, last Tuesday in Babonneau. “The mood is red,” he applauded.
The UWP has and continues to blunder economic trends, modern sources of information, targeting employment trends to business priorities, ensuring that sectors can access resources to retool and diversify, education priorities (tech/talent), physical development and theoretical independence in a changing workforce.
The UWP SOS-7 incompetence would be more essential to reassess the health, security and labour market trends for serious and significant policy formulation – and not SOS-7 antics to extort and “Right the Wrong” of incomplete adventures.
The UWP SOS-7 is also producing sharply different interpretations. Emerging is the late cycle of reform – behind the curve – on healthcare, security, education, social safety-net, and job creation.
To draw attention beyond initial tax (revenue) cuts and the reintroduction of “Border Control,” a means to go around the Leahy Law that Saint Lucia is still under raises security questions, digital threats, security, safety and sovereignty in multilateral institutions.
Saint Lucia’s digital structure is exposed to vulnerabilities, surveillance and strong-arming. Current accessibility impacts business services and personal operations.
The island’s digital infrastructure needs to be strengthened. And notwithstanding the evident incongruity, matters of integration of immigration, customs, security, statutes (privacy laws, copyright law) and the constitution of Saint Lucia, cross-border data sharing, and now the new external tariff policy, a total rethinking is paramount. Other aspects include monetary policy, revenue generation, education, housing (not 23 islands for elitist expats), expand trade opportunities and to better formulate a “Buy Saint Lucia” policy; foster new relationships beyond political insiders, special interests, neo-colonists and oligarchs.
To date, such an emphasis is abstract, keeping voters hoodwinked!
Real-time communication, data processing and a functional medical system are currently woefully ill-equipped to advance a proper and recognised National Health Insurance Coverage, as banded, in an attempt to persuade a gullible public. Recognised experience with computer systems and software roll-out on a medical system in the 1990s in North America revealed some really valuable lessons.
Crocodile tears will not solve Saint Lucia’s health crisis. Saint Lucia has 34 primary care health facilities and two major public hospitals, along with private hospitals and independent practices. The re-commissioning of St Jude Hospital poses a new and different dimension.
Currently, the healthcare system is not and needs to communicate in real time (patient care and services) to facilitate adequate healthcare in a real Universal Health Care (UHC) system, much less to provide a seamless National Health Insurance Coverage for all.
There is a consistent miscue in healthcare financing and policy formulation in Saint Lucia. The current construct of multiple boards of directors and variable composites that do not conform to the “science of medicine” is the compromise to the deficit that exists, as stated in Caribbean News Global (CNG).
The UWP SOS-7 has an unusable reliance on benchmarking antiquated platforms. Expressively, that’s the “Plan” – “Policy” and “Programme”!
While not a full member, Saint Lucia does cooperate with the OECD on specific initiatives, particularly concerning tax transparency. Data indicate that the rate of taxation on the island is below the average for countries that are better equipped. Saint Lucia’s tax-to-GDP ratio was 20.8 percent in 2023, which was below the OECD average of 33.9%.
More egregious is the matter of Saint Lucia’s sharp reduction in the birth/fertility rate “from 3.0 in 1990 to just 1.3 in 2020, well below the 2.1 needed to maintain population levels,” according to a report: Falling birth rate puts pensions at risk.
In short order, matters of immigration policy, increased contributions to National Insurance Contributions (NIC), and maturity payouts will have to be satisfied, including contributions to UHC and National Health Insurance Coverage.
The health and security levy is projected to collect annually $34 million, while spending on health care is over $188.7 million (still inadequate to service healthcare costs).
Meanwhile, increasing funding to national security to address crime, gangs, drug trafficking and money laundering, the RSLPF struggles to make Saint Lucian communities safe.
The UWP SOS-7 to remove the 2.5 percent levy, at this time, is an advanced death warrant, beneficial to the undertaker.
Experts understand how outdated tools often lead to unnecessary mistakes and contribute to system failure. A vision underpinned by a modern technology strategy and infrastructure to mobilise Saint Lucia’s 18-35 transformative ethos is utmost.
The veracity is such that taxes are inevitable, and the population must increase to support growth and development. Pension schemes will roll back/extended for payouts downward.
Saint Lucia must project an Economic Prosperity Covenant to drive investments and skilled jobs into the country, thus creating high-quality employment and attractive wages. Future investments and economic partnerships must underpin a model/strategy of a digital innovation sector, technology modernisation that encompasses enterprise data centres, supply chain access, capital commitments, and greater lending flows for increased commercial activity and infrastructural development.
Public-private sector corporation must reinforce the strength of Saint Lucia’s economy in proximity to global markets, with the capacity to drive innovation, and deliver improved services. Sub living wage rates won’t cut it.
The ordeal on the ground is that a UWP SOS-7 campaign of yesteryear is a thoughtless declaration. The antics is a game of shock therapy, and the “re-imaging of a wanna be saviour” of primitive antiquity. This is an unfeeling way to “death” by misadventure through campaign clowning.
Looking forward to a brave new Saint Lucia where skilled politicians and thinkers, businesses and employees, before my departure to the celestial, hopefully, human ingenuity must amplify a straightforward “Plan”, “ Policy,” and “Programme” to satisfy the “greater good” of a small population (under 200,000). However, the will must exist in the shifting dynamics of strategies.
The hidden message of the UWP SOS-7 is complex and highly dubious, as expressed by fractions within and argued herein. Amid this backdrop, the nexus is a straightforward rebuke of neo-colonists and oligarchs, Chastanet’s Political Club, their thinking and intentions.
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