CASTRIES, St Lucia — Opposition Leader Allen Chastanet has issued an Open Letter to PM Pierre, accusing the prime minister of undermining parliamentary accountability by closing the budget debate before several ministers spoke and before the opposition could deliver a rebuttal.
The letter, dated March 30, 2026, was issued “in the public interest” and centers on the decision to close debate during the Estimates, which Allen Chastanet argues prevented scrutiny of government spending and policy direction.
Full text of the open letter
30 March, 2026
AN OPEN LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER PHILIP J. PIERRE
Published in the public interest
Prime Minister Pierre,
Every dollar your government spends, every debt your administration takes on, every tax your administration raises, ultimately, it is the people of Saint Lucia who pay for it. Not you. Not your Cabinet. It is the working men and women of this country who have to shoulder that cost. And critically, the only person in the Parliament whose constitutional duty it is to serve as a check on your government and stand between them and an unchecked government is the Opposition. In this case, it is I, as Leader of the Opposition.
This is why your actions in the Parliament last week during the debate on the Estimates were an attack on the people you claim to serve.
You chose to close the budget debate, preventing three of your own ministers from taking the floor; ministers who have the responsibility to oversee money borrowed in the people’s name, increase or cut the services the people depend on, and who carry an obligation to report on every dollar of public money spent under their respective ministries. You took that accountability away from Saint Lucians. And this is not the first time you have done so. It is a pattern, Prime Minister. And patterns reveal intent. It is also worth noting that, in the process of closing the debate as you did, the Leader of the Opposition did not get to provide a rebuttal to the Government’s presentations.
You have also told the public that I refused to speak. I wish to correct that misrepresentation clearly and place the truth on record.
What I refused to do was speak on your terms, before all your ministers had taken the floor. Mr. Prime Minister, in your presentation, you told the Parliament and the nation that it would focus on providing an overview of the estimates, and that the line Ministers would provide details on the performance of their Ministries over the last financial year and their plans for the new financial year. It would therefore have been inappropriate for me to speak (rebut) before they had made their contributions to the debate. You, however, insisted that I speak when you told me to and that if I did not, then you would close the debate. A threat that you carried out.
Mr. Prime Minister, it is worth reminding you that the Office of the Leader of the Opposition is a constitutional Office. Its defining feature is its independence. Independence from you as Prime Minister and from your government. My oath is to the people of Saint Lucia. Not to you. I, as Leader of the Opposition, do not speak when you decide it is comfortable for me to speak. I speak when I am best positioned to hold your government fully and completely accountable, and that means after your ministers have stated their positions on the public record, not before.
Had I stood up when you demanded, I would have been speaking before three Ministers who hold critical and impactful ministries. I would have compromised my responsibility to hold your government accountable in the public interest. I would have been colluding with you against the people of Saint Lucia by allowing these Ministers to make arguments and expound on positions with no recourse to question them. I will not collude with any government against the people of Saint Lucia. Not yours. Not any other.
Prime Minister, when you attempted to compromise the independence of this office, you attempted to use the weight of your majority to intimidate the opposition into submission, to make the Leader of the Opposition an extension of your government’s convenience rather than an independent check upon it. I take that attempt seriously. I reject it completely.
Prime Minister, notwithstanding your presentation and that of the Ministers who contributed to the budget debate, a look at what this budget actually contains reveals the following: Between 2018 and 2026, total government expenditure grew by $929 million, a 73% increase. Our national debt has risen from $3.308 billion to $5.108 billion. As of 2024, our debt-to-GDP ratio sits at 77%, 17 percentage points above the ECCU regional target and moving in the wrong direction.
The IMF assessed this budget against ten benchmarks. We passed one. The wage bill has increased by over $30 million, with no rationalisation plan in place. Capital investment, the kind that builds futures, was cut, while recurrent spending grew by $151 million. The fiscal deficit is deteriorating from -143 million to -212 million. The people of this country are living the consequences of these numbers every single day, and they will suffer the fallout if this trend continues.
They had a right to hear those numbers challenged on the floor of Parliament. You denied them that right. And you did so deliberately.
A 16-1 majority does not give you the right to govern without accountability. In fact, Prime Minister, the larger your majority, the greater your obligation to submit to scrutiny because there is no one else to provide it. You have 16 members. The Opposition has one voice. And you moved to silence it the moment it threatened to become inconvenient.
You have invoked the Standing Orders to justify your actions. But the Standing Orders do not prescribe a speaking schedule. That schedule should be determined by negotiation and agreement. You chose to stop negotiating. You chose to dictate. And when I declined to comply, you ended the debate, removing not just my voice but also the voices of your own ministers, who owed this nation an account of their stewardship.
My responsibility is to the people of Saint Lucia, whether they voted for me or not. Particularly those who did not, because they need to know that even a one-seat opposition will stand in that House and ask the questions their government does not want asked.
The policy debate is coming in April, Prime Minister. I will be there. Prepared. Ready. And I will ask every question you tried to prevent me from asking.
The people of Saint Lucia are watching. And they deserve better than a government that mistakes a landslide victory for a license to govern unchecked.
Respectfully, but without apology,
Hon. Allen Chastanet
Leader of the Opposition
