‘If It Took A Snake To Save This Country, I’m Proud To Be A Snake!’

Former United Workers Party (UWP) leader Stephenson King, dubbed a snake, a traitor, and ‘King Cobra’ for joining the ruling Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) Government, is unfazed by the many epithets from his former party. “If it took a snake to save this country, I’m proud to be a snake. But what I do know is that I declared myself very early and said, ‘Hey, I can no longer continue in what no longer portrays the spirit, the philosophy and the intentions of the United Workers Party,” the former Prime Minister stated. After months of speculation regarding his political future, King announced shortly before the July 26, 2021, general elections that he would contest the polls as an independent. Choosing blue as his political colour and declaring himself a patriot, King retained his Castries North seat as the UWP administration in which he had served lost the election in a Labour Party landslide. After that, Labour Party leader and Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre appointed him a Senior Minister in the Cabinet. The Castries North MP declared that he was honest and upfront about his decision to run independently. “I didn’t do like some people, who went on the...