St Lucia opposition party asks PM to reveal details of use of CIP monies since 2016

The Saint Lucia Labour Party denounces the Prime Minister for misleading the Parliament and the People of Saint Lucia on the use of CIP monies.

The Prime Minister during the last Sitting of Parliament attempted to explain that the Budget Estimates for 2019/2020 contains projects which are identified as projects to be funded under the CIP. The SLP maintains that the Prime Minister never mentioned in his Presentation on the Estimates, nor in his Budget Statement, any project to be financed with CIP monies.

However, he has belatedly presented a list of projects which is in the Budget and which he claims satisfies the requirements of the law.

Section 33 Subsection 3 states: “The Minister for Finance shall lay before Parliament every financial year for its approval the purposes to which the funds will be allocated.”

The SLP rejects this backdoor way of seeking approval for the use of the funds from the CIP. The central issue is not how the PM intends to use monies to be earned from the CIP. This is a separate issue. The central issue is how has the CIP monies collected since 2016 been used by the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister has to present to Parliament and Saint Lucians, a statement of how much money was collected from the CIP Unit each year and what were the monies used for.

The SLP calls on the Prime Minister to respect accountability and transparency and provide

the information. The law requires it and the Parliament and People of Saint Lucia require

such information.

"We must know where the CIP money gone."