Prime Minister Philip J Pierre conducted a surprise walkthrough of the Halls of Justice construction site at Laborie Street on Thursday, using the opportunity to update the public on major government priorities. The prime minister spoke at length about the importance of the new judicial complex, the long-awaited handover of the St Jude Hospital, and preparations ahead of nomination day on November 21, 2025.
Standing alongside project officials, Pierre expressed strong approval for the progress of the Halls of Justice development.
“I really want to thank Mr John Peters for allowing me to have a visit of your structure. I want to thank you for working,” he said.
He noted that the project has drawn workers from across the region, saying, “From what I see, we have a mix of people from CARICOM. We have Saint Lucians and we have people from other countries. I am very impressed with what I see.”
Pierre stressed that the project responds to longstanding problems caused by overcrowded and deteriorating court facilities scattered across Castries.
“We have our courts in all different areas. They complain about mold. They complain about sometimes you can have no court because something is wrong with the building,” he explained. “All our courts, all our legal things, all the things that deal with the judiciary are going to be in one building.”
He called the new complex a strategic investment in national infrastructure: “After a number of years, that building is going to belong to the people of Saint Lucia. We are not going to be renting. We are not going to be paying anybody’s mortgage for them so that they can pay their mortgage over and over and build another building and rent again,” the prime minister said. He added that, unlike other rental arrangements, this project gives the state eventual ownership of both the structure and its land. “Other places that we rent, it never becomes ours. We just pay, but this time, we are renting, but after we rent, the whole building, the land becomes ours.”
Turning to healthcare, Pierre confirmed that the government has completed its long-promised handover of the St Jude Hospital to the Ministry of Health.
“We have handed over St Jude to the Ministry of Health, a promise we made and we kept,” he said. “So we are very satisfied that the public of Saint Lucia shall see that our promises, when compared to the promises that the last government made between 2016 and 2021, show the choice is clear.”
With nomination day just hours away, the prime minister also spoke confidently about the readiness of his party’s slate.
“Tomorrow we are going to be very confident. We are going to be having our 17 candidates and our new candidates,” he said. He highlighted the involvement of two new female candidates in particular, describing one as a medical doctor and the other as a communications expert.
“They have been attacked as usual, as you expect from the UWP, but we are moving. We are focused. We are not getting diverted by noise. We are not getting diverted by propaganda. We are not getting diverted by false promises.”
Pierre also outlined the government’s expanding suite of public health programmes as part of its phased approach to universal health care. He said the administration is already delivering several key services.
“We have already started delivering pap smears for women. We are very excited to deliver PSA for men. We already started to deliver maternal care for mothers and children,” he stated. “Last week we had cancer screening and mammograms for women…We delivered 80 plus healthcare for people over 80.”
Explaining the next phase of the national rollout, he emphasised the importance of data integration.
“What makes a national health care policy effective is information, because you find there is a lot of duplication,” the prime minister said. “We are getting an information system ready. Our universal health care is practical. It is workable. And it is being implemented as we speak.”