Choiseul On The Move

 

CHOISEUL ON THE MOVE | COMMENTARY

MR PIERRE, BRING YOUR UN MESSAGE HOME : Open the Centres, Clear the Roads, Deliver for Our Youth

You challenged the world to turn commitments into results. Choiseul/Saltibus is asking you to apply that standard here.

A driver should not have to scrape a vehicle against roadside bushes simply to make room for oncoming traffic. A community should not have to keep asking when its public centre will open. And a young person should be able to find a clear answer to a simple question: what opportunity is available here, and how do I access it?

These are basic expectations. In Choiseul/Saltibus, they deserve the Prime Minister’s direct attention.

Philip J. Pierre’s official portfolio includes Finance, Constituency Development, People Empowerment, Justice and National Security. That places him at the centre of decisions about public money, community investment and the opportunities that help people build secure lives. [1]

Other ministers, agencies and our parliamentary representative have their responsibilities. But the Prime Minister must ensure those responsibilities produce coordinated action. Residents should not be passed from office to office while the same problems remain.

At the United Nations General Assembly on 25 September, Pierre spoke of development pressures facing small island states as “not abstract; they are lived realities”. He told world leaders that trust in the United Nations depends on people in Haiti seeing improvements in their daily lives. His subject was international responsibility, especially climate pressures and Haiti. Yet the measure he offered is a useful one at home too: what changes in the life of an ordinary person? [7]

Completed in 2023. Why are residents still waiting?

The Government’s own Economic and Social Review 2023 records that construction of the Roblot and Piaye community centres was completed in the second quarter of 2023. This is an official government record. [2, printed page 26]

Yet the local account reaching Choiseul on the Move is that both centres remain unopened for their intended community use. If that remains the position, more than three years after recorded construction completion, the Government owes residents a precise explanation.

Are there outstanding defects? Missing equipment? Utility connections? Staffing or handover problems? Which agency is responsible, what must be done, and when will it happen?

Construction completion does not automatically mean a building is ready for occupation. But any remaining obstacle should have a name, a responsible officer and a deadline.

Public money must deliver public use. A completed building is only part of that obligation.

These centres could support homework assistance, digital learning, skills workshops, community meetings and regular youth activities. The question is larger than when somebody will cut a ribbon. It is when residents will gain dependable access to a useful, functioning facility.

When Pierre calls on international institutions to earn public trust by improving daily life, residents of Roblot and Piaye are entitled to put that same question to their own Government. A building recorded as complete is an entry in a report. An open centre with a programme and regular hours is a change people can use.

Even the roadside bushes have become an issue

The concerns reported locally include poor road surfaces and vegetation narrowing the usable space on certain community roads. Drivers describe moving towards the edge to allow another vehicle through and having branches scrape their vehicles.

That complaint calls for inspection and action.

Residents understand that major road reconstruction requires design, financing and contracts. They are entitled to ask why routine debushing cannot follow a reliable maintenance schedule.

Which roads are scheduled? When were they last cleared? Who checks the quality of the work? Where can a resident report dangerous overgrowth and receive a meaningful response?

Damaged road sections also need a published repair programme with priorities explained. A project in one community does not resolve a maintenance complaint in another.

Constituency development must be visible along the roads people use to reach school, work, farms and home.

At the UN, Pierre described major threats as lived realities rather than distant abstractions. A narrow, overgrown road is a much smaller issue than the climate crisis he was addressing, and the two should not be confused. Still, the test of responsive government is the same: listen to the people experiencing the problem and show them what is being done.

Our young people need sustained opportunity

Let us be fair and accurate. Some initiatives have reached Choiseul.

In December 2023, the Youth Economy Agency identified Imnah Alexander of Haven Farm, Dacretin, Choiseul, among the award recipients in its business-planning programme. [3]

In August 2025, the Ministry of Equity documented the Choiseul Summer Music Programme, led by the local music committee and funded by the National Lottery Authority. It also reported BNTF/SSDF-funded improvements to the music training facility at Reunion School. Local organisers and participants deserve recognition for that work. [4]

An October 2025 government announcement outlined plans for NSDC training and entrepreneurial programmes at the Choiseul Arts and Crafts Centre. Residents should now be told what has been delivered under that commitment. [5]

Those examples mean we cannot honestly say nothing has been done. They do not establish that opportunities are sufficient, sustained or accessible across Choiseul/Saltibus.

Pierre also raised the risk that technology could widen “the gap between the powerful and the vulnerable”. That concern should inform youth policy here. Announcing digital opportunity means little to someone who lacks an affordable connection, a device, transport or a place to learn. The community centres could help close that gap if they are opened, equipped and programmed for regular use. [7]

How many young people from each community have completed training? How many secured recognised qualifications, paid employment or businesses that remain active? What support reaches a school-leaver who needs basic skills before preparing a business plan?

And what about the young parent who needs childcare, or the person who cannot afford transport to attend?

A programme can exist and still fail to reach the young person who needs it most.

The public records reviewed for this article did not establish a comprehensive, costed Choiseul/Saltibus youth-development plan with community-level targets and published outcomes. That does not prove no such plan exists. It means the Government should produce it and explain its progress.

Apply your own security argument, Mr Pierre

In May 2026, Pierre outlined a national security approach that included mentorship, education retention, after-school engagement and support for vulnerable young people, alongside policing and justice reform. [6]

Then show us how that approach operates here. Where are the regular sessions? Who delivers them? Which communities do they reach? What happens after the first workshop?

Unemployed young people should never automatically be treated as potential criminals. They deserve opportunities because their lives and ambitions matter. When the Government itself identifies social intervention as part of security policy, residents are entitled to ask where that intervention reaches them.

Here is what accountability should look like

Choiseul on the Move proposes four clear commitments:

1. Within 30 days: publish the operating status of both centres, outstanding obstacles, responsible agencies and firm dates for resolving them.
2. Publish a recurring road-maintenance schedule: identify priority sections for debushing, drainage clearance and repairs, with inspections after work.
3. Within 90 days: present a funded constituency youth plan covering recognised skills training, paid placements, enterprise support, mentoring and practical access needs.
4. Report quarterly: publish spending, participation, completion and employment or business outcomes, using aggregate figures that protect personal privacy.

These are proposed accountability deadlines, not existing government commitments. They give residents something concrete against which to judge the response.

After more than five years of Pierre’s premiership, asking for identifiable local results is reasonable. Recognising useful initiatives does not require silence about unresolved problems.

Mr Pierre, bring the responsible agencies together. Account for the centres. Get the maintenance done. Give our young people a clear route into training, work and enterprise. You challenged the international community to deliver change people can feel. Bring that challenge home.

Choiseul/Saltibus has waited long enough for answers. Your portfolio must now deliver results people can see, use and build their lives upon.

Reporting note: This commentary draws on the official sources linked above and local reports about the centres and road conditions. The current operating status of the centres and the specific affected road sections have not been independently verified for this article. Choiseul on the Move welcomes a documented response from the responsible authorities.