I am not going to be pushed by anyone – Eustace

While many persons express concern for the plight of the New Democratic Party, many of them are not willing to come out on the front line and fight for what they believe in.

This is the view of Leader of the Opposition Arnhim Eustace, which he expressed while speaking on the New Times Programme yesterday on Nice Radio.

“… I have heard a lot of people call me and say {{more}}‘You must do that’ and ‘You must do that, but you see, I can’t help you because my child have a scholarship.’ I have a lot of that to deal with on a daily basis; people call me and say what to do, but they not prepared to be there.”

Eustace’s comments came in response to a caller who told him that he was “holding the people back”, and that he should shut down the town, so that thousands of people could come out to protest.

The NDP president said while he respects people’s opinions, he takes objection to statements such as those made by the caller.

“You have to work to get that to happen. I’m not holding back anybody, but I take objection to those kinds of statement, let me be very frank about it!”

According to Eustace, many persons claim to be fearful of the repercussions they may face if they come out to protest; however, he is not fooled by those statements.

“They will tell you ‘my daughter have a scholarship and or me son working here or there’. There is a lot of that in St Vincent and the Grenadines. I don’t fool myself with those things. In a lot of cases there are people there who are very, very poor, who are more likely to take a decision like that, than some of the other people who keep talking about it all the time,” Eustace stated.

Eustace pointed out that he is methodical in his movements; however, persons think that he is not moving fast enough.

“I tend to work things through in my mind, taking into account a whole series of factors and sometimes that is not fast enough for some people and sometimes you can go much faster and go nowhere.”

He noted that he is not going to be pushed and he, along with his team, will take the appropriate action at the appropriate time.

“I am not going to be pushed by anybody; we will assess the situation and at a time that we think appropriate we will take certain actions…,” he said firmly.

“So, I will make judgements as we go along, along with the team of us and when we decide we should do X, we will do X; when we decide we will do Y we will do Y. I don’t take gladly to anybody telling me I keeping back people. People have the right to take their decisions too. I can’t determine for them and a lot of people have those kinds of views, but very few of those who talk like that we see in the picket line right now, very few!”

The Opposition Leader reiterated that while he respects the views of his party’s supporters, he along with the members of the NDP, will make decisions on what to do as the situation develops.

“We are in a very difficult position in St Vincent and the Grenadines right now; our economy is in shambles, our political system is in shambles and people of St Vincent and the Grenadines are suffering. We are without any legal government in the country and we having plenty problems with money,” Eustace declared.(CM)