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Permalink Reply by Saadiss on September 18, 2010 at 12:51pm

NDP Column

Desperation heightens, more lies and nonsense on the ULP campaign

The pressure is on, and the ULP administration is obviously feeling it. The attitude displayed by the ULP politicians on the campaign trail is evidence of a party that is seeing its last days.

The kind of comments coming from the ULP platform is so embarrassing that the behaviors of their speakers can be equated to the old adage that ”a drowning man will grab at a straw”. Vincentians should listen to the plea made by the PM’s security advisor, Mr. Vincent Beache, for the lowering of the price on strong rum. The PM in particular, after making up his lies about five million dollars purported to have been deposited in two commercial banks to benefit the NDP, is now twisting his story to say that maybe Arnhim doesn’t know about the money. The PM in a news release called on Hon. Arnhim Eustace to explain the deposits that he knew was a lie. He knew that his story was a fabrication, with the sole intent to gain political mileage and tarnish the good name of the Honorable Arnhim Eustace. After a week or so, and realizing that his comments were baseless and he was not making any headway, he is coming back with the lies again, but this time is doing so with a new twist. He is now claiming that the FIU is investigating and maybe Arnhim doesn’t really know. In his desperation, he further remarked that Arnhim doesn’t really know what is going on in the NDP. The SVG PM is so full of himself that he never ceased from insulting the good people of SVG. The people of SVG and the world at large know by now that Mr. Arnhim Eustace is not the type of leader that Ralph Gonsalves is. The people know that Arnhim is in a class with a cadre of leaders that Ralph Gonsalves wished he was a part of.

Only Ralph alone can lead this country: Grossly insulting

Ralph Gonsalves made the insulting remark that is only he alone can lead SVG. It seems as if the PM of SVG is now immortal. In the head of the narcissistic individual, he only sees himself as the one who can do everything. He does not believe in the ability of others, and hence the reason why he has no confidence in the ministers of government. He as PM micromanages everything in government, and hence the reason why so many activities of government seem to be collapsing under his watch. The PM has no level of confidence in the ability of anyone he feels is beneath him. He strives on keeping people down, and feels proud to have people begging him for their daily bread. Vincentian taxpayers’ money is being used by Ralph and his comrades as if it is their own money. Ralph Gonsalves is making the world believe that the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines are a bunch of “dunderheads”. To make such a disgraceful comment is totally contemptuous of the people of SVG, who over the years have sacrificed a lot to make something of themselves. Persons such Jerrol Thompson, who Ralph Gonsalves once fooled by telling him that he is arguably the brightest man in Cabinet; Rene Baptiste, Louise Straker and even Mike Browne, all must feel very belittled that their leader doesn’t look at any of them as being capable enough to be leadership material or even to run this country. Many a time the PM has made remarks that have angered the people of this nation, demeaning them.

Education: The NDP’s input made it all possible

Anything that is done for the benefit of Vincentians by the government is treated as if it is a personal sacrifice being undertaken by the government minister concerned. Long before the advent of the ULP on the political scene, Vincentians were traveling to Venezuela and Cuba to study on scholarships. Today, the impression given is that it is the ULP that makes these scholarship possible. Such is the staged drama when dealing with these scholarships that Dr. Ralph Gonsalves even shed crocodile tears when a group of students were going off to university in Caracas. For years, the people of this country have been given the opportunity for studying abroad. Many years ago while in government, the NDP made it possible to pay the economic cost of all students accepted to the University of the West Indies (UWI). This initiative saw an increase in the number of students seeking access to higher education. The basis of this increase lay in two other initiatives, compliments the NDP. First was the introduction of the book loan scheme that allowed poor people’s children to access all their text books for a minimal sum. The result of this was an increased in the pass rate at all levels within the school system. The construction of the community college came at the right time as more students can now access advance level examinations. So the text book scheme and the building of the college complemented each other perfectly, and today we have more students who are being prepared for university. Before this, students could only do advance subjects as private candidates or try to get in the limited spaces that were granted to a few students at the Grammar School.

SVG with Ralph on the world map or world stage

In a country where the ULP is claiming that the country is better off, the number of persons on the public assistance program (poor relief) have doubled since the advent of the ULP in power. The poverty level of the country has increased by government’s own admission. The increase of persons on the poor relief is an admission of this fact, believe it or not. Ralph Gonsalves has always blown his own horn to give the impression that he is a man of exceptional leadership skills that no other politicians living or dead possesses. What exactly that sets apart Dr. Ralph Gonsalves from previous leaders to put him in a bracket of importance is somewhat baffling. What has he done that is so good to this country that he should be hailed as a great leader? The answer it seems must be known only to Ralph himself.

Apart from the bravado and empty and boastful utterings, there is nothing significant that Ralph Gonsalves could lay claim to. Most of the initiatives that he might attempt to claim credit for are not of Ralph’s doing, but a continuation of an established idea or a part of regional program.

On the other hand, he has indeed put SVG on the world map or world stage as he likes to put it. Two occasions can point to this fact. One, while he was at his best as a criminal lawyer, he was able to represent a tourist who was charged for the killing of a young man from Bequia, and recently when he was accused of RAPE by a police officer. On these two occasions, SVG’s good name was flashed across CNN screen in a negative manner. To date, SVG national debt is at its highest in history, compliment bad management of the economy by Dr. Gonsalves. The health service in SVG is at its lowest ebb. Medicines are unavailable, and the PM has accused the staff of stealing from the hospital supplies. The main hospital, now renamed the Milton Cato Memorial, is far from the days when PAHO declared it as the best baby friendly in the region. The government is at a point where they cannot pay local businesses for services rendered. The state owned bank, the NCB, is up for sale, and to make matters worse, the PM has already signed off on documents that allow him to borrow close to a 100 million dollars to prepare the bank for privatization. The PM, among other things, has already agreed to a reduction in staff at the bank to justify him selling the bank. All statutory bodies have owed the NCB millions of dollars. All these financial woes happened under the eyes of Ralph E Gonsalves as PM and Minister of Finance. Yes indeed, he has put us on the world map and on the world stage. His inept management of the Vincentian economy will be a puzzle to many in the future, as students of history would have trouble understanding what model of economics Ralph Gonsalves employed to mismanage an economy in the manner in which he did that of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

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