by Linda Straker
- Allen Chastanet, Leader of St Lucia Opposition, was a guest on “The Bubb Report”
- Disclosed as much as 80% of donations to campaign-related activities come from outside the region, and are unknown to party officials
- OAS election observers recommended that Grenada enact campaign financing legislation
Political parties in Grenada and other OECS Member States receive a significant portion of their money for election campaigning from donors outside the territories. In most cases, the party officials have no idea who the donors of the funds are that are used to pay for campaign-related activities.
This was disclosed by former St Lucian Prime Minister Allen Chastanet when he appeared as a guest on the 16 February 2025 weekly Sunday “The Bubb Report” programme, where current affairs topics are discussed. Hosted by former Grenadian journalist Dr Kellon Bubb, the programme aired on his YouTube channel and was redistributed and re-aired on several regional networks during the week.
Chastanet, who was speaking about the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programmes and the possible link to the financing of election campaigns, said that before the CBI programmes were a thing, campaign finance by investors as a form of investment was already occurring.
“Investment, whether it’s attached to citizenship or not, has always been brought into focus — very strong focus, campaign financing. It is long overdue to have a very serious discussion. I would say to you without fear of contradiction that the vast majority of funds coming in to fund campaigns in the OECS come from outside,” said Chastanet who is the current Leader of the Opposition in the St Lucia Parliament. “I will probably say as much as 80% comes from outside, and nobody knows who those persons are who are making those investments or those donations,” he added.
While on the June 2022 election campaign, Dickon Mitchell in his then capacity as Political Leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) called for the enactment of campaign financing laws. However, after 32 months in office there is no discussion on the issue. “If we had laws that limited for example the amount of funding that any individual could give to a political party. If we had laws that said that a political party will have to report every cent that it got in donation and sponsorship, our politics will change overnight,” said Mitchell on the election campaign.
Following the 1999, 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018 and 2022 general elections, the Organisation of America States (OAS) election observers have recommended that Grenada enact campaign financing legislation.
The former St. Lucian PM has cast a very wide net without offering a shred of proof. He’s gaslighting people by sounding credible. Mr. Chastanet should have been more responsible by providing verifiable citations instead of seeking to peddle in unsubstantiated generalizations. And why does the NDC and Dickon Mitchell have to be used to enjoin a sensationalistic statistic? Mr, Chastanet is the leader of one of the Republican LITE Caribbean political parties not in office today and for good reason – they are not trusted. Re-reporting about an inflammatory groundless statement and trying to tie Grenada and PM Mitchell to it and obliquely suggest that Chastanet’s statement is an indictment and validation of some kind of “dark money” sinister plan is unadulterated yellow journalism at the very best.
This should be criminal…. quite clearly most elections are bought the rich and paid for by the poor