‘NDP’s manifesto has more questions than answers’

Unity Labour Party candidate for East St George Camillo Gonsalves says after reading the New Democratic Party’s (NDP) manifesto, he is left with more questions than answers.{{more}}

“The document has more questions than answers and I want to ask 20 questions today after I read this manifesto…the first question I want to ask is whether or not the party is the NDP or an NGO.”

Gonsalves’ definition of an NGO is a non-governmental organization which does research and then gives their findings to the Government to put plans in place.

“I see that they are going to review 27 things, they going to study five more things, they going to examine eight more things and they going to explore another five things,” Gonsalves told the large crowd at the Arnos Vale 2 Playing Field last Saturday night.

“They studying, they examining, they explaining and they reviewing; they review but they don’t do, because some of the things they want to review, they could have reviewed them long time.”

He also wants to know why some of the reviews they have listed in their manifesto, such as the causes of crime and the insurance act, could not have been done already.

“The next thing I want to know is who or what are all of these mysterious international groups that they say going to do all of these things in St Vincent and the Grenadines,” he asked.

In the manifesto, according to the ULP candidate, there are many vague references to persons and groups who they (the NDP) indicate would be funding their many projects. Gonsalves stated that he doesn’t understand why the NDP cannot name one of these international major players.

He said he is of the opinion that their lack of ability to name any of these organizations shows that they are not ready for government.

Gonsalves would also like to know what will happen to the one laptop per child programme, because there is no mention of that in the manifesto.

“What will the NDP do if St Vincent and the Grenadines is struck by a hurricane or a tropical storm or a flood or a natural disaster, because I read the whole manifesto and the word hurricane doesn’t appear in the manifesto…,” he asked.

Additionally, he noted that the manifesto makes no mention of climate change and global warming.

Gonsalves additionally wants to know if the NDP plans to get rid of the Youth Empowerment Services (YES) programme or the SET programme, since there is no mention of those programmes in the party’s manifesto.

Motioning in the direction of the ET Joshua Airport, Gonsalves declared: “Anybody who wants to become a government in this country must tell you what they plan to do with all that land over there, but I read the manifesto, I search high and I search low and I can’t find the phrase Arnos Vale in the manifesto; they have no plan for what they will do with Arnos Vale, even though they will have almost 100 acres of land to develop.”

He also mentioned that the word ‘poor’ appears nowhere in the manifesto and notes that the only time poverty is even mentioned in the manifesto is when they speak about St Clair Leacock’s constituency development fund.

Gonsalves also would like know if the NDP would be continuing the public assistance programme, commonly known as ‘poor relief’.

“He wants to help the rich and when you help the rich, you call it an incentive stimulus, but when you help the poor, he say that is dependency politics.

“I want to ask him whether or not he is going to stop distributing building materials, because I read the whole manifesto and there is nothing in the manifesto in the building materials,” he continued.

He explained that there are persons in Vincentian population who genuinely need help and cannot afford repairs on their houses and while the NDP may call it a bribe, the ULP calls it love.

He also asked about the NDP’s plans for medical schools and their honorary citizenship programme.

“Eustace talk about how he want to sell passports; you heard him say that before he want to sell citizenship, but I read the whole manifesto and he is afraid to tell you that he wants to sell the passports, because the words economic citizenship and the words citizenship by investment, don’t appear in the manifesto; you have to go to last page in the fine print and you will see something in there saying that they will review the Citizenship Act and the Passport Act.

“If you want to sell our passport and our patrimony and our heritage, stand up like a man and say so, don’t hide it in the fine print, because this government and this ULP will not sell your passport and your patrimony and your heritage,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated passionately.

Gonsalves also stated that the NDP has agreed to certain austerity measures.

“They tell you right in the manifesto they bringing austerity, but they don’t tell you what name austerity…austerity is cutting your salary…austerity is cutting your jobs….austerity is cutting social support and the social safety nets of the people.”

He mentioned that he saw no plans for a new cruise ship terminal in St Vincent and in view of the fact that St Vincent is in desperate need of a bigger terminal, he expected to see some plans in the manifesto.

Gonsalves also asked about the location for the proposed state-of-the-art hospital the NDP plans to construct.

“The manifesto said oh we will put it at a convenient and central site, in an appropriate part of the country, like it is a secret…the least you could do is tell me where you are putting it. The ULP has said that they are putting a brand new hospital right there at Arnos Vale, we are not hiding.”

He also asks how many low income homes the NDP plans to build.

“I want them to tell me what they plan to do with geothermal energy, because they came in Parliament and they voted against geothermal energy and on one page of the manifesto they said the geothermal thing is a bad deal…but at the very next page they say they are going to review the bad deal to reap the best of the bad deal… if you know is a bad deal don’t tell me you are going to review it,” Gonsalves exclaimed.

Commenting on the section on meritocracy, Gonsalves stated: “I want you tell me about the girl who send her relative to high school when she didn’t pass common entrance to go to high school, if you are pushing meritocracy.”

Gonsalves said he would also like to know what the NDP means by “they would return to normalcy their traditional cordial ties with Venezuela and Cuba.”

Gonsalves encouraged Vincentians to get registered and go out on December 9 to vote and vote for the ULP. (CM)