With elections to be held in St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2025, Vice President of the St Vincent Opposition (NDP) party St Clair Leacock, is already predicting that the party can lose seats due to foreign investments on the island.
Leacock speaking on the party’s radio program, says investments such as the Richmond Quarry project and Sandals Beaches could swing the pendulum in the government’s favour.
Leacock stated that Vincentians would have to decide if wholesale buying of their votes is worth it and called for a cap on Foreign Direct Investment.
“If as it is alleged that this present investor is a mover and shaker in St Lucia of the governing regime. What stops them from buying wholesale one or two constituencies, North Leeward and Central Leeward.
Because, if as is present, you could buy a vote for $5, $50, $100, a jersey and a cap, you could imagine with those kinds of monies what will happen in those constituencies when you walk from house to house and woman to woman and say, this is a $500 and a $1000, he becomes the new political czar, of the area.
So that is on the leeward coast by way of investments. I’m serious about this because ants will bring me the news. You have the same consideration that needs to be taken in place, and we should take not a single cent more from Sandals Resorts because they’re already big enough with their $100 million in South Leeward where they can run things. You have the same control through Rain Forest in East St George.
The NDP might be able to preach till it blue. Money runs things. If the government continues to do that along with the set of millions of dollars with this hotel and that hotel, after a while, the political process becomes a masquerade; it doesn’t make sense anymore.
So Vincentians have to decide at what stage we are going to cap this kind of foreign investment and how pervasive their role would be in St. Vincent and the Grenadines”.
