On behalf of the Castries North UWP constituency branch and my campaign team I extend heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and to those touched by Saturday’s senseless tragedy. Today is not a good day for this country. On Saturday we witnessed acts of violence that should shake and arrest our national consciousness, our conscience!
Gangsters took over our streets, and bullets pierced not only the peace but citizens: men, women, children! Where is the outrage? Have we grown so immune or accustomed to senseless violence that we continue as if this is normal? That those lives lost meant nothing?
The United Workers Party does not accept this as normal, and we reject attempts by some to downplay “Bloody Saturday.” We reject it out of hand. We took the responsible decision to postpone our public meeting in response to legitimate concerns about the safety and security of our members, indeed all Saint Lucians.
We do not put party over people. We do not place a Pyrrhic victory over our values, our values. We do not put our politics over your protection, indeed your security. If it was a decision between winning at all costs and protecting you, I, Stephen Fevrier, will always put your interests first.
And to those who say we should have continued I say no. This is not business as usual. This is not a game. This is not some juvenile contest. We, I, have a responsibility to you. And exposing people to a volatile and uncertain environment is not what we do.
It is not for us to place you in harm’s way to prove a point. We will not accept as normal what took place on Saturday. Our values do not allow us to put winning over wisdom and victory over you, your safety.
The government owes each and every one of us a duty of care because each and every life is sacred! We call on Philip J Pierre to act and act decisively, starting by ejecting those odious and unsavoury elements from your cabinet, those who aid and abet the criminal underworld. For what moral authority do you have to demand better when the very problem we seek to address is in your midst.
Let us continue to pray for each other and for our Saint Lucia!
Stephen Fevrier
