Castries, St.Lucia -- The Lucian People's Movement (LPM) has insisted that, while it claims that the government of Saint Lucia is “completely in bed with Sandals” over the proposed construction of overwater bungalows at Pigeon Point, this should not deter or silence the voices of all Saint Lucians who are truly concerned about the impingement on their sovereignty and patrimony by huge corporations, whose only concern is “maximizing profit at the expense of the people of Saint Lucia.”
According to the political leader of the LPM, Therold Prudent, "The time has come when the people of Saint Lucia must weigh the quantity and quality of the jobs that may derive from the proposed project, and whether there are guarantees of long term job security in the agreement between the government of Saint Lucia and Sandals, versus the ecological damage to our ecosystem, the restrictions in the personal rights and movement of the people of Saint Lucia in accessing their beaches, including a dramatically redrawn or narrowing of the expanse of sea that has served as the economic base and livelihood of the fishermen and people of Gros Islet for hundreds of years."
Prudent added that "Saint Lucians must make full use of the powers bestowed upon them by the constitution, which is the right within a democracy to guide and challenge their government, especially when that government is not clear or forthcoming in terms of where it truly stands on questions of Saint Lucia's patrimony. I also don't believe that it was the intent of the people of Saint Lucia to elect a government or governments which take its directives from multinational corporations, as opposed to the other way around."
“As one who was born and raised in Gros Islet, and a proud custodian of its earliest history and unique way of life,” Prudent said that, not only has he borne personal witness to the destruction of the local marine life throughout the so-called years of development, and the near elimination of a once-thriving fishing industry in Gros Islet, which first started with the construction of the Pigeon Island Causeway in the 70s, but that the people of Gros Islet and Saint Lucia by extension have more to lose from these government-sanctioned experimentations and ventures.
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St. Lucia News