“There’s going to be a major transformation in Castries East that is going to be visible for all eyes to see [and] I’ll just stop there. But in the meantime, we’ve started on the sporting infrastructure. We’ve started works on Mindoo Phillip Park,” Pierre said. He stresses that the park is not just only for the residents of the area, but the entire country. “The Mindoo Phillip Park is not only for the people of Castries East, it is a national playing facility for the entire country. So far we’ve done two stands. We are going to be upgrading the lights at the park as well. These works are going to end by the end of this year.”

The six-term Member of Parliament, however, issued a strong warning to bad actors who destroy the facilities in the area. He says persons caught vandalising the facilities will be arrested. “We are also going to be renovating the Marchand Grounds. You cannot afford to be destroying the facilities that are built for you and expect the government to build it again,” he says. He continued by explaining, “We spent one million dollars on the Marchand Grounds. We did paint, we built changing rooms, we put toilets, we re-fenced the entire place, we put lights in, we redid the field and we’re going to do the pavilion. They mashed it up! They destroyed it!”

Pierre says new security apparatus will be placed there to ensure the preservation of the facilities. “We are going to do it again, but this time the security forces we’ll be putting in will be told to arrest anybody caught vandalising the facilities built by the government of Saint Lucia. I make absolutely no apologies for that. We will be starting early in the new year, hopefully, we can finish by August so next year. If you are caught destroying it, you will have to face the brunt of the law.”

The Prime Minister also announced that his administration will be increasing the number of CSEC subjects covered by the government. These developments, the Prime Minister explained, are part of putting the people of Saint Lucia first.