Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace says Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves should focus on this countryâs problems rather than peopleâs physical attributes.{{more}}
Eustaceâs comments, on his weekly radio programme yesterday, came after Gonsalves said last week that his having hair was no reason to demit office.
Gonsalves, speaking in Sandy Bay, where his Unity Labour Party government on August 13 distributed letters for plots of land, said some state employees say he should go.
He said these same state employees have benefitted from his administrationâs salary increases, 100 per cent mortgages, and university scholarships for themselves and their children.
âWhen ah hear them say âRalph nah do nuttin and ah want him come out.â Whaâ happen? You want me come out because ah haâ too much hair pon me head,â Gonsalves said in dialect.
âYo want baldhead man? Thaâ could be the only reason. But I donât see why yoâ should have anything against hair pon me head and pon me face. I ainât ugly,â he added.
But Eustace said yesterday that the prime minister âseems to spend a long time on whether hair was on my head â¦
â⦠with all the difficulties that people in this country are facing, you really believe we have time for all this type of stupidness (nonsense)?â said Eustace, who is almost completely bald.
âI mean it is so puerile. It is insulting the intelligence of the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines,â the East Kingstown representative further stated.
âWhat we need is to deal with the issues that confront us and see how we can get our nation back on some proper footing.â
Eustace cited International Monetary Fund figures in saying that the local economy declined in 2011 â for a fourth consecutive year.
â⦠and thatâs what the prime minister is dealing with,â he said of the hair comment by Gonsalves, who is also Minister of Finance.
âWe should be talking about solutions to our problems. Not the physical attributes of any individual, but what his government and him can do to improve the lives of people.
â⦠The question is, are the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines better off than they were last year? No! They are worse off. That is the reality, that is what we have to address. Not my head!â Eustace said.
He said Vincentians are no longer interested in discussion about peopleâs physical attributes.
âOur people have gone past that now,â he said, adding that the nation needs programmes and polices that ensure that citizens have a better standard of living.
âBut no, you deal with trivia, things that are not important, trying to keep peopleâs mind off things that are important. But they have to live, they have to eat and they have to send their children to school,â Eustace said on New Times, sponsored by his New Democratic Party.
âBut the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines has some responsibilities in that regard and they should live up to them, rather than talking a lot of nonsense and crap all the time,â Eustace said. (kentonchance@searchlight.vc)