Government with mixed up moods
St Vincent and the Grenadines’ Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday, returned from his trip to Washington all smiles reporting that he had secured a $20M loan from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).The loan was finalized by OPEC Fund President Dr. Abdulhamid Alkhalifa.
This must come as a great relief for the Finance Minister who has been complaining about the dire state of the nation’s finances. After 25 years on the opposition benches Dr. Friday would be eager to show that his administration can make a marked difference, and the reality is that he has some big shoes to fill.
His long advocated Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme has not yet got to the starting blocks and when it does, it will be entering a race where that scheme is under tremendous pressure. CBI has been showing diminishing returns in the other OECS nations which had long implemented the attractive money earning programme which Dr. Friday’s main adversary had always opposed in principle.
One imagines that the mountain of challenges to the new government must seem almost insurmountable faced with even just meeting the cost of salaries for the public service alone monthly.
Beyond the financial challenges, the growing issue of homicides must be a headache for the prime minister and his very active deputy St Clair Leacock. Since they assumed office it would seem that the criminals are hell bent on tarnishing the record of the new government.The reality is though that no government can find easy solutions to the problem of crime. As we have said here, the causes are multifaceted and there are no quick fix solutions.
But Dr. Friday is not going to Parliament to elaborate plans for expenditures of his newly acquired loan. Nor is he about to present solutions to our mounting crime levels, but for something which to him must be a nagging bother. Something he has in fact deemed frivolous.
Today, he is expected to pilot a Bill in Parliament to effect an amendment to the Constitution of St Vincent & the Grenadines, but retroactive to 1979, the year we formalized our Independence from Britain.
Section 26(1)(a) of the Constitution of 1979 prohibits anyone who has voluntarily sworn allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power or state from being nominated or elected to the House of Assembly.
The case before the court which challenged the nominations of himself and his Foreign Affairs Minister Fitzgerald Bramble still stands and should be heard on July 27.
If this Bill were assented to by the Governor General, and passed into law, it would mean that the case brought against Dr. Friday and Bramble would lose it effectiveness. And standing between that process will be the lone elected member on the Opposition benches, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves and his two senators.
We can expect heated debate in our Parliament surrounding the process but, at the end of the day the Ayes would have it, and that major change to our Constitution would have been made.
Dr. Gonsalves has been calling for his supporters to come out and protest the move by the government but it would be interesting to see if, so soon after a major 14 to 1 trouncing at the polls, there is appetite for protest.
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