Just laughin’ and gay like a clown
I seem to be what I’m not, you see
I’m wearing my heart like a crown
Pretending that you’re still around’
Pierre’s latest pronouncements on the hapless government, came at the SLP Market Steps virtual public meeting August 23, where he demanded the truth about the state of the economy in the face of mounting debt and bad financial choices by the government over the last four years.
“Where are we? I’m saying to you, by the time this government leaves office the national debt of this country may be near $5 billion,” Mr Pierre declared, warning his audience that the burden of repayment would fall on the young people of Saint Lucia.
He recalled that after the nation emerged from the Covid-19 lockdown the Prime Minister said the country had lost so much revenue with no hope of recovering this lost revenue , that it would be necessary to cut the salaries of civil servants by 50%.
A month later a Cabinet Conclusion effectively said that the Cabinet would be in control of the Public Service Commission.
“They said they could not afford to pay civil servants. What is the proposed state of the 50% pay cut on civil servants? Where are the public servants? What will the government do (for salaries) in September, October, November?” Mr Pierre asked.
Yet the same government has embarked on a mad rush to launch construction projects, including a road to nowhere from Dauphine, and the awarding of ‘design-finance’ contracts for nearly $100 million outside the tendering process.
“Never before in my life as a Parliamentary Representative have I seen so many people who are afraid because school is opening and they can’t send their children to school,” he said, disclosing that the Government gave each opposition MP $10,000 to help children go to school.
Mr Pierre, who is in his fifth consecutive term as MP for Castries East, estimated that it costs at least $500 to send a child to primary school, which means that $10,000 to one constituency can only help 20 students.
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