22 questions posed to Government: NDP seeks answers

The opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) will be posing 22 questions to the Government in the House of Assembly today, seeking oral answers.{{more}}

Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace will get things going when he asks Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves to state whether the Kuwaiti Fund has been paid the arrears of interest and principal on its loan to this country’s Government for the expansion of the Cane Hall Power Plant Project and when was the payment made.

Eustace will also probe the Government on whether it has made payments on the $5 million credit from the Jamaican firm which, in November 2010, provided supplies to the state, with 90 days credit, to address the damage caused by Hurricane Tomas.

The Opposition will also seek to find out what is the accumulated debt owed by St.Vincent Electricity Services Ltd (VINLEC) for the purchase of fuel under the Petro Caribe Agreement.

Dr. Godwin Friday, Vice President of the NDP, has a set of questions relating to the Argyle International Airport Terminal Building. He will seek to find out why delays on the Terminal Building are continuing; whether the funding for the terminal has been secured; and will the Taiwanese be contributing to the terminal; and if so, how much.

The NDP will also inquire about the CT scan machine that was purchased last year with funding from the National Insurance Service (NIS) and the former National Commercial Bank (NCB). Daniel Cummings, Area Representative for West Kingstown, will ask when was the equipment landed in the country; under what condition is it being stored; for how long will it be kept in this storage environment; and where is the equipment to be installed and when.

Cummings will also ask additional questions related to the government’s decision last year to place the CT scan machine at the facility operated by Dr. Rosalind Ambrose. He would like to know if this decision has been changed, and why, and if the answer is yes, what, if any, is the indebtedness of the Government to the Caribbean Medical Imaging Centre and if any study was done before the agreement was reached to locate the new equipment at the private lab.

In a question directed at the Minister of Social Development, Cummings is asking if the government would “find it in its heart to assist” Nathan (Casson) Thomas, an 84-year-old amputee of Edinboro, whose house was damaged during the passage of Hurricane Tomas.

Senator Anesia Baptiste will ask Prime Minister Gonsalves to inform the public of the cost, if any, to tax payers for the St.Vincent and the Grenadines’ delegation to attend the recent wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton of the British Royal Family. She will also call on Gonsalves to explain why, at a time when the country had just suffered “tens of millions of dollars” in damage from recent rains that produced flooding in the north of the country, it was prudent to spend tax payers money to make the trip.

Baptiste will also call on the Government to give an update on the Crisis Centre. Her questions will state: Have the Operation Manuals for the Crisis Centre been completed and the stakeholders’ protocols established; and when will the Crisis Centre become operational.

Questions will also be put forward by Senator Vynette Frederick, who will ask the Government, what legislative or other actions does the Government propose to tackle statutory rape and other offenses against children.

Frederick will also ask the Government to provide answers as to whether all winners and cultural practitioners who participated in the 2010 carnival have been paid; and if not, to indicate those to which payments remain due.