Editor: Come on,

St Vincent; the rest of the world is publishing the names of their political leaders and prominent citizens revealed in the “Panama Papers”; why are we so tardy? Why has there been no outrage over the revelation that Ottley Hall Marina is now in the hands of a Venezuelan lessor? It’s not bad enough that it is eliminating skilled Vincentian workers in favour of undocumented Venezuelans, but it was never announced at the time that the Government signed the agreement that the operators of the shipyard would be Venezuelan.{{more}}

So, does anyone care, or is this business as usual? Money flows here, money flows there, but none of it flows into the treasury. Why else raise taxes? The AIA will NEVER show a profit, because we will have to pay, subsidize, underwrite, and grant concessions to entice any international airline that might even consider St Vincent as a stop-over point (forget destination).

I no longer expect moral outrage at Government deceit, because the current ULP operatives obviously have the huge support of a base of the population for whom coherent economic policy and ethical conduct have no relevance.

Rational judgement and moral standards have been shunted aside, are in abeyance, in favour of the old, outdated, irrelevant criteria that exalted the sly high talker, the articulate conniver, the fancy dancer. Good luck, St Vincent! And wave goodbye to a better future!

Xunzi