Prime Minster Ralph Gonsalves has ordered that the salary for recalled diplomat, Edson Augustus, be discontinued.
Gonsalves, who is also Minister of Finance, told I-Witness News on Thursday that he gave the order on Tuesday.
The decision came as Augustus failed to report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kingstown, five days after he was recalled, and his diplomatic passport withdrawn.
The Government announced on Monday that it had recalled the former deputy consul general at the nation’s Consulate in New York, having received “sufficient confirmation” of reports that he was “involved in activities outside the scope of his employment and inimical to the interest of the Consulate General and the Government and people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines”.
Gonsalves said he inquired around Thursday afternoon and Augustus had not returned to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“He was recalled on the 7th. He has to tell the Foreign Ministry where he is. If he doesn’t, that is not in keeping the terms of his employment, Gonsalves said, adding that he therefore ordered that Augustus’ salary be stopped as of Feb. 7.
On Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in its statement, “All matters touching and concerning the said activities are under further review,”
This is very troubling to me. Why isn’t Mr Gonsalves releasing the information that forced him to recall his diplomat? How dare he attempt to distract us from the real issue by discussing punitive steps of withholding salary from the diplomat while he continues to side step and withhold such serious information. Why has he deferred to using vague legal jargon in his release and not simply state the truth? Is the diplomat fear for his safety why he is not returning to St. Vincent?
Spare us the big words Comrade, just give us the truth in simple language the same way it was communicated to you. You were sufficiently satisfied with the information presented to you to recall the diplomat so we are sure it is of a serious nature. So why wont you say? We are entitled to know this forthwith as this information directly affects every person going through any immigration worldwide. We need to know if we are being blacklisted for assisting non aligned countries gain access to the West for terrorist purposes. We need to know how many if any passports were sold. Please disclose. You have an obligation to the People of this country to inform us. Your silence is deafening Mr PM. and the spotlight is shifting to you the longer you withhold this information.
The Prime Minister must think this is some kind of joke. This is a very serious issue and have serious ramification for us and many Vincentians to come. Life in SVG is hard but how dare you all try to make it hard for Vincentians abroad too, you are not going to win again so stop playing politics you low life, give us the information for once and be done with it.
Sometimes I just have to laugh at the “brightest PM” SVG ever have, he’s so bright that you can’t see him or anything that he does. Their are a lot of people that need to be locked up when this regime is gone, sweet SVG will never be the same. Next election I will be home and when you all are out of office I will be there to make sure that non of you run for the kind of nonsense that you did.
CAMILE, you may well be right, he could well be in some danger in SVG, there were several others in volved in this scheme.
One thing you can be sure of only those with tight connections to the regime would dare to be involved.
People have disapeared or/and lost there life here for less.
He may well be in danger if he knows to much, and of he is likely to spill the beans.
Notice how quickly they want him out of the US and home, they would hate for the US authorities to question him.
we Vincentians talk too much. there is a time for everything, and this is not an opportunity to broadcast matters that can have serious diplomatic repercussions for every Vincentian in the future. Let us exercise some prudence until the matter is further investigated by our government. We will know what all this is about in due time, but for now, hold our peace.