Opposition MP, for Castries South, Dr Ernest Hilaire, says the government is playing politics with its re-launched STEP program. Dr Hilaire says all opposition MPs were given little to no time to submit names for the Christmas STEP program. He says on December 14th, MPs were given less than 12 hours to respond with a list of names for the program. He further states that the MPs will only be receiving 120 000 thousand dollars out of 2.7 million dollar allocation for the program. The program has however expanded. This year the number of names submitted by an MP has moved from 25 to 51. Dr Hilaire says the benefits are skewed to disadvantage supporters or perceived supporters of the St Lucia Labour Party.
