NDP will tackle corruption hard – Eustace

The president of the New Democratic Party (NDP) is saying that once his party resumes power, it will work hard at tackling the corruption in government, which he claims was ushered in by the Unity Labour Party (ULP).

Speaking at a NDP public meeting held in Bequia last Saturday, Eustace promised that when his party is elected in, those who have been involved in corruption and other ills that involve the abuse of the “public purse,” {{more}}will be made to answer for their actions.

“Corruption is one of the things that causes a country to decline,” he pointed out.

“It causes life for the people to be harder and harder, rather than to improve. We have had too many instances over the last few years, both in the civil service and at the ministerial level, where there has been corruption.”

Eustace further explained: “It is very important that St Vincent and the Grenadines gets a government that knows what it is doing. We have had 14 years, nearly 15 years of misery, of a failing economy, of high unemployment and much corruption… The New Democratic Party will take action on all of these matters when they win the elections a couple weeks from now.”

The NDP president also lamented the decline of the banana industry, claiming that in the period that his party was in administration, SVG exported over $1 billion worth of bananas to the United Kingdom alone.

“In the nearly 15 years of the ULP, you know how much we exported? Two hundred and ninety-one million. So, during the 17 years of NDP – which is just three years more than the ULP – NDP exported, farmers at that time, $847 million more worth of bananas than the ULP!

“You know how many people have lost because of that?” he questioned. “The same goes with other agricultural products… The same story goes with our tourism, which has gone to the dogs and continues to decline.

“We have a hopeless government!”

Eustace also accused the Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and the ULP of trying to rig the registration process, so Camillo Gonsalves – the ULP candidate for East St George – will be elected, then eventually take over from his father, Dr Ralph Gonsalves as Prime Minister.

“We don’t want any family affair here,” he asserted. “That ain’t happening!”

He also spoke about removing VAT from 140 items, creating employment, welfare issues, the NDP’s plans for a new state-of-the-art hospital, reducing the fuel surcharge and incentives for the private sector – among others.

Featured speaker at the public meeting was Dr Godwin Friday, NDP candidate for the Northern Grenadines, who promised his audience that when his party forms government on December 10, it will not let the nation down.

“You deserve better than you’ve been getting in the past 14 and a half years.”

Speaking to the youth of SVG, Friday asserted that their futures will be brighter under a NDP-led administration than it currently is under the ULP.

“…there is rebirth, there is hope, there is new growth, there is future; and that is what we in the New Democratic Party are offering.”

Also speaking at the public meeting were Terrance Ollivierre, candidate for the Southern Grenadines; Lauron Baptiste, candidate for North Windward; and NDP general secretary Allan Cruickshank – among others.(JSV)