Joachim Henry of the opposition Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) has sounded a note of caution to voters, urging them to vote with their conscience and not for cash in a bid to keep this country free from corruption.
The former Senator and current SLP candidate for Castries South East, has asserted that people never benefit from selling their vote.
Henry made the remarks in a post on the official Facebook page of the SLP.
“When you get an amount of money for your vote, will that amount last for five years? What you have managed to do is put a corrupt politician in power for five years,” he observed.
Henry wrote under the theme ‘ The Importance of Having Free and Fair Elections’.
“If you are paid $500, for your vote, this may buy groceries for two weeks but the corrupt politician you put in power is there for five years, getting rich,” the SLP politician noted.
“He/she can bleed the country of millions of dollars. You only get a one time illegal payment. Persons, of Castries South East, must never take part in that illegal activity of selling their vote. This illegal practice is bad for the whole country as it impedes development and drains resources,” Henry warned.
He said: “When you sell your vote to a politician, you are exposing the country to someone that is corrupt. This is someone that will not see anything wrong in embezzling the country’s resources or taking kickbacks from a contract. Corrupt politicians get rich of the taxpayers backs!”
“The other reason one should never sell their vote is because once this politician enters office, we as the citizens have to pay their salary. Taxpayers must work to pay the benefits for these people until they die. We pay their salary, their pension and their death benefits. They pay us for a vote and we pay them for life!” Henry concluded.
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