LETTER: SVGS COMEDY OF ERRORS - ACT-III The St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) comedy of errors under the Unity Labour Party (ULP) government continues even further back. It was in 2005 when former prime minister (PM) and elder statesman Sir James summed it up: “It is like dogs barking at your car, you stop and give them the wheel and they pee on it.” Such are the efforts of the ULP-led government “Comedy of Errors.” The Argyle Airport In 2009 I wrote, “Well, if the Ottley Hall Marina and Shipyard Project was an albatross around former PM Sir James’ neck, then this boondoggle must be an elephant on the current PMs chest.” Since then we have had more cost overruns, bad soil compaction, still unfinished wind studies, and money gone missing. We have had the revelation that Venezuela is not paying for the Cuban workers and the money is coming from SVG at about $370,000 per month or $4.44 million per year. Also, there were no signed agreements with many, if any, of the countries to build the airport. Furthermore, the price tag for the airport continues to climb from Eastern Caribbean Currency (EC) $480.6 million, EC$500 million, EC$588.94 million, EC$652 million to United States $652 million. Similarly, the completion dates continues to grow from 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, to infinity. From the outset, the completion dates were laughable. All one had to do is look at how long it took the government to build the public library when they had the money (about ten years). What do you think was going to happen, if you did not do the proper studies and did not secure the funding? I am now wondering if the elephant on the current PMs chest is a “white elephant” or we are seeing the making of one such elephant! Only in SVG, we can hear a doctor (PhD) telling us that they are trying to build an international airport project without securing the funding! Lawd, have mercy, where is Mo, Larry and Curly? As “Patches” said, “I never see more mess!” I think the people are ready, “Ring The Bell!” It has been over six years and many are still awaiting payment for lands taken away for the Argyle airport project. When are they going to be paid for their lands by this ULP government? The National Commercial Bank (NCB) It’s like these guys have no shame! After brazenly denying that the bank was not for sale, they later sold the bank then boasted about their masterstroke of selling the NCB. They treated the NCB like a proverbial “piggy bank,” then they are claiming “masterstroke!” The nation’s bank was lost under the ULP government! What a disgrace! Selling a controlling interest (51%) for EC$42 million, after borrowing EC$100 million to make the bank liquid, is not a masterstroke! It is the height of stupidity because the people of SVG have to pay back the EC$100 million plus interest. Likewise, putting a good portion of that money from the sale of the NCB into the airport project is even more ridiculousness. The ULP government should have secured funding for the airport, not taken money from the forced sale of the bank. Furthermore, if the government, its established statutory corporations, and others borrowed from the NCB to the tune of millions, what would the end result be for not paying back the bank? By not repaying the bank, it holds within reason that the bank would go under or have to be sold! It was not a masterstroke, it was plain incompetence! In addition, we are now hearing of very high building rental fees that were charged by the government to the NCB, upwards of EC$2.4 million per year. As documented in this I-Witness News story, “Pressure from high rent weakened former NCB - Eustace”. By the way, why won’t the “minister of finance and an elected member of parliament” tell the nation the source of the US$1 million deposited at the now defunct NCB? As I stated in Act 1, Shakespeare could not have written it any better, a “Comedy of Errors” by the ULP government! Peace and justice and get real. Lenford O’Garro Washington
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 02:26:42 +0000
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