Santa Lucía: oposición exige detalles sobre el acuerdo del gobierno con el ALBA
UWP member wants answers on Govt-ALBA agreement
Another United Workers Party (UWP) official has called for transparency and accountability from the government of Saint Lucia regarding its arrangement with the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA).
Castries South-east representative Guy Joseph at a press conference on Tuesday said government needs to take the matter to the parliament for debate or at least engage the opposition in a discourse on the matter.
He said he is to some extent ignorant on much of the agreement because “the government operates in secrecy.”
“This matter has not come to parliament. The opposition has not been briefed on anything that the government is doing as far as its relationship with ALBA, with Petro Caribe… I am very suspect anytime things are done in secret there’s a price to pay down the road. We saw it with Rochamel… The debts for Rochamel were tied up in a convoluted bill that included a hundred other things….”
“So the prime minister can come and announce [things] and call his bridge what he wants. It’s his prerogative to make the decision …. The point for me is that I as a Saint Lucian who live in my country, who have no interest outside of Saint Lucia and intend to spend the rest of my life here …. I want to know that the decisions that are made in this country will not have a negative implication for me in the years down the road,” he stated.
Joseph said that until the government is “frank with the people of Saint Lucia and come and put the ALBA situation on the table in parliament for discussion or to engage the opposition in some level of discussion as to where we are moving I will always be suspect.”
Joseph is convinced that if answers are not known in his lifetime it will eventually come to light.
“…nothing is for free…Yes, you get things, but you get them at a cost – either in cash or in kind,” he added reiterating that the public needs to be informed on the Saint Lucia- ALBA agreement implications.
“Are we selling our votes at the UN? Are we doing things that are later on going to affect us? … I am not concerned about what is said, I am more concerned about what is not said,” he voiced.
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