National Green Party (NGP) leader Andre ‘Pancho’ de Caires has announced that he will resign at the end of this year.
“I Andre de Caires, will be stepping down as leader of the National Green Party as of December 31, 2024,” he said.
In a statement to St. Lucia Times, de Caires recalled that he has been in elective politics since 2010.
However, he explained that one seems interested in joining the NGP to strengthen and move it forward.
In addition, de Caires observed that the party does not have the millions it takes to run a political campaign.
“Lastly, I’m tired. Personally, I am kind of burnt out. I have been an activist for the last 25 years and I have taken a lot of backlash and disparaging and disrespect for many of the stances I have taken and the party has taken,” he explained.
“I’ll be sixty-four years and I don’t think I have the strength to continue with the energy that is needed to actually run a good campaign and be a good leader,” he stated.
According to de Caires, one of the biggest reasons for leaving is after twenty-five years of advocating for cannabis legalisation is that it is finally here with the potential to make billions.
“My campaign has always been food first – food and water security and we can see now with the ever-changing climate, that extreme weather events are becoming very, very frequent,” the NGP leader noted.
He said that the situation has caused food crop destruction and a price surge.
That aside, de Caires pointed to an ‘epidemic’ of non-communicable diseases linked to what people eat.
“We are actually importing poisons and those poisons are contained in plastic containers that end up in a landfill. We are doing a terrible service to ourselves and our country by importing food,” he declared.
“We need to focus on food security and that is why the whole cannabis is tied in with our campaign – to encourage young people to get back to the land so that we can be food secure. Reduce the food import bill. Eat more healthy. Reduce the solid waste problem. Create jobs for many young people,” de Caires, a farmer by profession, told St. Lucia Times.
He stated that with him stepping down as NGP leader, young people can get involved in electoral politics.
de Caires disclosed that the NGP has a full structure, including a constitution, a symbol, and a website.
“I am inviting people to come and take over the party and make this a true democracy,” he said.
Seven NGP candidates participated in the July 26, 2021, general elections, all losing their deposits.
