The Lucian Peoples Movemnet is adamant that the cost of operating Saint Lucia’s embassies and consulates abroad at a time when the country is in dire financial straits must be taken seriously by the Allen Chastanet led UWP administration. The LPM asserts that while the new government of Saint Lucia has presented an argument for belt tightening to the citizens of the country, it has not followed its own advice by minimizing the cost of operating what the LPM describes as “Saint Lucia’s largest non-productive and low yielding bureaucratic investment outside of the country”. The LPM has proposed to the administration of Prime Minister Allen Chastanet that it considers shutting down Saint Lucia’s consulate in Miami with immediate effect and seriously considers re-evaluating the qualifications and usefulness of some of the staff currently stationed at our various missions and consulates around the world.
In addition, the LPM says fiscal prudence on the part of the government would be demonstrated if the Saint Lucian mission in New York and other consulates could enter into agreements with member states of the OECS to share embassy spaces and to even perhaps permanently operate joint facilities in order to extend the diplomatic reach of the island and the OECS region by extension.
The party says for years, citizens have been told how crucial it is to maintain diplomatic facilities abroad. However, when one looks at the astronomical cost of maintaining the missions and consulates, including how little the country has benefited from these operations – it seems to be nothing more than a clever way to award lucrative jobs and contracts to selected people within political organizations.