Dr. Kenny Anthony (left) and Philip J. Pierre at a SLP conference several years ago.
(SNO) — Admitting that Sunday’s protest march in Castries was one of several things that has pushed his party to soon table a motion of no confidence against the administration of Allen Chastanet, Labour Party leader Philip J. Pierre is upbeat that the motion will carry, despite his party’s six seat to the government’s 11 in parliament.
But despite his optimism when speaking to reporters about the no confidence motion on Wednesday, Pierre did not out-rightly say the motion will carry through.
Whatever card the Labour Party is playing in bringing such a motion to parliament, seeing that the motion could be easily defeated on account of the government having more numbers on its side in the House of Assembly, was not seen at Wednesday’s press conference.
The party however is playing its cards close to its chest. Pierre stated that “Her Majesty’s loyal Opposition will now use the legal tools that are available to us” to indict the government in parliament.
“We are going to bring a vote of no confidence in the government and we are going to tell the government defend itself on the indictments that we have raised against them and each of the 11 parliamentarians will have to stand up and defend the actions of the government,” Pierre said.
According to him, the constitution allows for such a thing a day after general elections, and has no time limits to when such an indictment could be made.
“We are saying that based on the behaviour and posture and actions of the government we think it necessary for Her Majesty’s opposition to indict the government in the House of parliament before it is demolished,” Pierre said, adding that his party is presently preparing the motion.
“We are going to send it to the speaker, and from that point, it depends on the speaker to give us a date to hear the motion,” Pierre said.
However, the United Workers Party (UWP) in the meantime appears not to be amused by the Labour party’s motion calling it “ludicrous and without merit”.
“It is absolutely mind boggling when all credible evidence suggests that the UWP government is rectifying the deplorable state in which it found Saint Lucia after being returned to office, by an overwhelming majority, following the June 6, 2016 elections,” noted the UWP in a statement Wednesday.
“It is clear that the SLP has no desire to respect the wishes of the electorate, and continues to pursue a course of denial and total disregard for the will of the people,” the statement added.
The UWP then went on to show evidence of St. Lucia’s economic recovery, with record numbers in tourist arrivals, a reduction in unemployment, the reduction of VAT from 15% to 12.5%, major road works around the island, and the soon-to-be commenced Hewanorra Airport expansion project, noting that these are signs of a significant positive turn in the management of the affairs of state by the UWP government.
“Lamentably we see another shameless attempt by the SLP to sully the image of our island around the world with baseless threats and fear mongering. This threat of a vote of no confidence is merely political posturing by the SLP and will be embarrassingly defeated whenever it is submitted,” the UWP noted in its statement, ending with “the people of Saint Lucia spoke loud and clear on June 6”.
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