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Frank Da Silva, right, seen here with Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, at the ULP’s convention on Feb. 2, 2014, seems to have been given tacit approval to critcise Thomas on the ULP's radio programme. (Photo: Zavique Morris/IWN)
Frank Da Silva, right, seen here with Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, at the ULP’s convention on Feb. 2, 2014, seems to have been given tacit approval to critcise Thomas on the ULP’s radio programme. (Photo: Zavique Morris/IWN)

(See video at end of post)

Political activist Frank Da Silva, who created a stir when he attended the ruling Unity Labour Party’s convention on Sunday, says he is no longer a member of the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) and will campaign against it in the next general elections.

Da Silva said he attended the ULP convention because he “wanted some tongues to wag”, and to show the difference between the two parties.

“I have no status with the NDP. I have a problem calling the people there NDP. … They should be called something else,” Da Silva told I-Witness News on Monday.

He said that the last time he paid any subscription to the NDP was in in 2006.

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Da Silva has been publicly critical of the NDP and its president, Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace, who was at the helm when the party lost general elections in 2001, 2005, and 2010.

Asked if he is a supporter of the ULP, Da Silva said:

“I support anything that is right. I don’t know how you qualify supporter. I am going to disagree with things that the ULP do, and I am going to disagree with things that the NDP do.

“… I could agree with nine out of 10 things that you do, but if I disagree with one, it could amount to me being on the other side,” Da Silva said.

To illustrate, he said that he believes the nation should have changed its Constitution in 2009.

“… but I would never support a constitution that change the Privy Council. So, even though I agree with all the other things, that one is so important to me, I won’t support it,” he said.

“Eustace is such an ungrateful fellow, I can’t support those guys, based on that alone.”

Da Silva said it was the first time that he attended a ULP convention.

“I know I wanted some tongues to wag. I wanted people to see how people behave.

“Kingsley De Freitas appeared at the NDP convention, and he always on radio saying he support them, but what did they do? He was booed and asked what he was doing there. According to him, he left.

“I went to the ULP convention, nobody in this country has been after the ULP and Ralph more than I. Yet, they didn’t boo me. You think that would have happened at the NDP? I don’t think anybody in their right mind would say what happen yesterday when I appeared at the ULP would happen at the NDP,” Da Silva said.

There was loud cheering when Da Silva arrived at the convention, which was already underway.

No Mitchell faction in NDP

Like Da Silva, NDP founder, former prime minister, James Mitchell, has been critical of the current leadership of the NDP.

Ask if there are Eustace and Mitchell factions in the NDP, Da Silva said, “Those fellow there, if any of them were there supporting Sir James, you think Eustace could have written that out-of-place letter and somebody ain’t say I resigning?”

He was speaking in reference to an open letter that Eustace wrote to Mitchell after Mitchell’s latest round of criticism in the wake of the NDP convention last year.

“What faction of them there [is] supporting Rishatha Nicholls?” Da Silva said in reference to the on-going saga over severance pay, between Eustace and Nicholls, who he fired as his secretary last year.

“They supporting Eustace; that’s what they are doing. I don’t know that they are NDP. They are there supporting a man. You are saying that there are two factions, there is none. Anybody who is supporting Mitchell is not welcomed in that party.

“Ask Cooke if you think I am joking,” Da Silva said in relation to former host of the NDP’s “New Times” programme, Ernesto Cooke, who resigned the position last week.

“In that thing there, right now, there is no Sir James faction, because it is his party. And what is there is not his,” Da Silva said.

At the convention on Sunday, Da Silva presented Gonsalves, who is also Minister of Finance, with two books: “Basic economics” and “Economics in One Lesson”.

“And if he reads any of them and follow them, we don’t need no IMF or anybody to turn the economy around in St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” Da Silva said.

Asked to comment on the fact that the NDP moved from three to seven seats in the 15-member parliament after the 2010 general elections, Da Silva said.

“I don’t think that the party is doing something for that movement. I think that the ULP has been doing things that will cause that movement.”

Regarding the ULP’s chances in the next general elections, constitutionally due in December 2015, Da Silva said:

“If you listen to the voices that are no longer speaking for the NDP, then you might come to a conclusion. Looking who they have calling up the NDP programme everyday — a bunch of ragtag nuts, and you are not hearing from people like Junior Bacchus or Matthew Thomas. Where are they?” he said.

Bacchus and Thomas are social and political activists and former radio talk show hosts, who have been critical of both the ULP and the NDP in the past.

Asked if he would support the NDP again if the leadership were to change, Da Silva said:

“To replace with whom? If it is going to be replaced with [NDP Vice-President and Central Kingstown MP, St. Clair] Leacock, no way! If it going to be replaced with [West Kingstown MP, Daniel] Cummings, now way! As a matter of fact, right now, they need a clean slate or me to support them … because all of them are a bunch on ingrates. They are all to a man a bunch of ingrates. That’s my assessment.”

But while Da Silva said, “you bet you” he will campaign for the ULP in the next general elections, he said he will not campaign against two of the NDP’s candidates.

“Don’t ask me, I am not telling. The candidates are on the mainland and not in the Grenadines. I’ll campaign vigorously against Daniel Cummings.”

He said that he was not being critical of the NDP because he could not get his way.

“What way is it that I want? When they are going to say that, they must say exactly what the way is. So I can’t respond to something like that. Tell me exactly what is the way I want. Just like Sir James, he wants to see the NDP back in power and it has been demonstrated time and again that Arnhim Eustace is incapable of doing that.

“Added to that, he is an ingrate; he doesn’t want anybody to criticise him, and I have been there. He has the dictatorial tendencies. Anybody ever heard Ralph Gonsalves say anything nasty about Frank Da Silva? Anybody? So how could Eustace sit there and hear people calling me a scar face? You ever heard him say anything? Yet I go campaign for him after that. So let them talk about personal,” Da Silva said.

7 replies on “Frank Da Silva says he will campaign against NDP”

  1. Report: Today The Day They Find Out You’re A Fraud

    By:The Onion News

    While experts agree you’ve been remarkably successful so far at keeping up the ruse that you’re a capable, worthwhile individual, a new report out this week indicates that today is the day they finally figure out you’re a complete and utter fraud.

    The report, compiled by the Pew Research Center, states that sometime within the next 24 hours, people will find out that you have no idea what you’re doing, that you’ve been faking it for years, and that, through continuous lying and shameless posturing, you’ve actually managed to dupe virtually everyone around you into thinking you’re something other than a weak and ineffectual person.

    They’ve had their suspicions all along, sources said, but today their suspicions will be confirmed.

    “Though you’ve somehow gotten this far in life without anyone discovering you’re not what you pretend to be, it’s all about to come crashing down, and not a minute too soon, to be frank,” reads the report, which goes on to note that you don’t deserve anything you have—not your job, not your relationship, not even your parents’ love—and you know it. “You’re incompetent, you’re petty, you’re vain, you’re barely keeping it together beneath that confident exterior you project, and your little charade is just about over.”

    “They’re all on to you,” the report continues. “You do understand that, don’t you?”

    Your boss and coworkers will realize today that you are completely unqualified for your current occupation, experts confirmed. Already, they are reportedly starting to sense that you’ve just been skating by—pretending to know what you’re talking about, as if you actually possess any kind of real or meaningful skills—and that you’re far more of a liability to the company than you’ve ever been an asset.

    Several experts also noted that any potential employer in your future will immediately recognize that your entire career has been a sham, that you more or less bluffed your way through school, and that you’re unfit for any task beyond menial labor.

    According to the report, the people you are closest to, from friends to family to your romantic partner, will find out today that you’ve merely been impersonating someone who deserves to be in their lives—piecing together just enough lies about yourself to trick them into thinking you’re a genuine, understanding person.

    In addition to everyone you’ve ever met knowing you’re a huge imposter, even strangers on the street will know, the report stated, in most cases simply by looking at you.

    “People will soon surmise that you’re just a feeble, self-obsessed loser, scraping by from day to day and hoping not to get found out, and you know what? They’re right,” reads another section of the report. “The pathetic deceit that lies at the very core of your being, that defines you, that is you won’t be a secret much longer, because the rest of the world is going to figure out what your parents have known all along: You’re a big f..king joke.”

    “On some level, deep down, you knew this day had to come,” the report concludes. “And now it has.”

    At press time, sources confirmed that here we go: You can see it in their eyes. They know. They all know. Every last one of them absolutely knows. And you deserve every bit of scorn and rejection that is coming your way.

  2. No No Teacherfang says:

    LIFE IS STRANGE!

    As long as Frank Da Silva toed the NDP party-line, he was fine.

    ….Because Frank has the guts, (the intestinal fortitude) to call a spade — a spade, he is being maligned and chastised to the hilt!

    Teacherfang obviously has his own agenda — so what is so wrong if Frank has an agenda of his own? Are there two sets of rules? One for Teacherfang, and one for Frank?

    Is this a case of — do what I say, but not what I do? Why must Frank dance to the music played by Teacherfang, or anyone else? Why can’t he do his thing, and you do yours, Teacherfang?

    The problem we face in St Vincent, is simply that, we want to eat our cake……then advise others what they should do with theirs.

    If anyone dares to display any individuality whatsoever, they are criticized, insulted and treated like they are the scum of the earth.

    Teacherfang is a fine example of that infantile and delusional attitude.

  3. BREAKING NEWS:There is a public execution taking place right now on the radio…FRANK E da Silva is about to be decapitated by Margaret London. She already remove his testicles and disembowel him…its a bloodbath. Oh gawd somebody help poor Frank…this is murddah!

    EASE UP MARGARET EASE UP…DON’T DO FRANK SO, HE WAS YOUR TEACHER. LOL!!!

  4. Dearly beloved: we are gathered today to pay our final tribute of respect? to that which was mortal of our deceased loved one and friend? Franc de Silver. To you members of the family who mourn your loss, we especially offer our deep and sincere sympathy? May we share with you the comfort afforded by God’s Word for such a time as this:

    The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. And you will know My name is the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon thee.

    R.I.P Franc de Silver

    Disclaimer:”Any resemblance to persons living or dead should be plainly apparent to them and those who know them, especially if the author has been kind enough to have provided their real names in previous posts. All events described herein actually happened, though on occasion the author has taken certain, very small, liberties with chronology and reality because that is his right as a Vincentian”

    Disclaimer: If the above disclaimer show any resemblance to some other disclaimer found elsewhere on the internet, is not the result of chance. It is DELIBERATE.”

  5. Dr. Dexter Lewis says:

    Vincentian politicians, all, are a thin-skinned lot.

    Da Silva’s comments let you know that he is upset about the NDP being ungrateful to him.
    Gonsalves and Eustace are also quite thin-skinned, especially Eustace. Eustace, however fully understands how to move the country economically and that is the talent so badly lacking in Gonsalves. I am also not sure Gonsalves has the will to handle the economy of SVG or if he has given up. But it is clear to me he has no understanding of economics. It is good that Da Silva gave him books on economics. He needs them. It would have been helpful if he had given some on Psychology to Eustace. He needs that too.

    And we, Vincentians, need some luck.

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