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Instead of focusing on economics, his academic and professional field of expertise, and developing a comprehensive and innovative plan to help address many of the issues that he and his ardent supporters highlight incessantly about the state of our nation, the Honourable Arnhim Eustace, leader of the main opposition Party in St Vincent and the Grenadines, is focusing on becoming Moses and instituting a reckless policy that can precipitate a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in our homeland.
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The Honourable Arnhim Eustace has pledged the gift of honorary citizenship to 800,000 Garifuna descendants of South and Central America if his party wins leadership of our government. This should be a major concern to all Vincentians and such an undertaking warrants a national referendum, because unlike in most countries where the status of Honorary citizenship is symbolic, it may not be the same for SVG and here’s why.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves made numerous public statements on this matter in which he legitimately and justifiably issued his concerns; he specifically referenced a law on honorary citizenship that was passed in 1996 by the previous NDP administration, a law that was repealed by his administration, and he claimed that it expanded the program to include the right to a passport and permanent residence. Mind you, the Honourable Arnhim Eustace’s spoken-proposal and semantics gymnastics seem to indicate that his programme will be symbolic with future refinements, but the narrative of those in his inner circle is more aligned with the 1996 law and they are boldly advocating for full repatriation.
Also important is the fact that the Opposition Leader and many of his party colleagues were members of the previous NDP administration that enacted the 1996 law, therefore it would be reckless to take him at his word. The Honourable Arnhim Eustace needs to be candid in an official capacity, about whether he plans to break international law and repatriate 800,000 native CITIZENS of South and Central America, based on spiritual connections, to a country that is only 133 square miles with a population of approximately 100,000. He also must explain how in God’s name can such a small and fragile country sustain an instant influx of citizens of other countries that vastly outnumber its population in the hundreds of thousands.
At the NDP town hall meeting in Brooklyn, New York in May, the Honourable Arnhim Eustace lamented to a national audience that Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has destroyed the finances of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and that our nation is bankrupt. He lamented that it will take an overwhelming effort and perhaps several generations to restore the nation’s financial health. He lamented that the Gonsalves regime is spending beyond its means, and in so doing he frightened the Vincentian diaspora, myself included, who do not have access to the facts. Added to that, the Honourable Arnhim Eustace is a staunch proponent of austerity measures to correct Prime Minister Gonsalves’ mistakes, balance the budget, and curtail the escalating national debt; his words not mine.
Now, considering what Mr Eustace laid out about the state of our country how can he accomplish his goal of reviving our economy with his ghastly plan to repatriate 800,000 citizen-strangers who are not undergoing ethnic cleansing in their countries of birth, and wouldn’t his administration be forced to spend beyond its means to sustain his ginormous undertaking? How can the Honourable Arnhim Eustace be a proponent of austerity measures to relieve our economic distress by adding 800,000 people of South and Central America to our population? Can Mr Eustace take austerity measures and increase the population with his artificial insemination simultaneously? Mind you, if he succeeds this will be the first unprecedented and boldly-premeditated-plot by a democratic government of an underdeveloped country in world history.
(Editor’s note: A no point did Eustace mention or suggest the repatriation of the Garifuna people to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In fact, he has said repeatedly that the Garifuna who come to SVG may do so as tourists or investors.)
If this isn’t disastrous enough, Mr. Eustace’s supporters have the tendency to answer questions pertaining to economics on this matter, by pledging reassurance that the 800,000 Garifuna descendants will be an asset to our country and economy because they are highly skilled, talented, and brilliant. Perhaps so, but what needs to be asked is how can they be certain of this? Where’s the evidence by way of references to validate this? Do the NDP members know the 800,000 Garifuna descendants personally and have they evaluated their talents? Again, where is the evidence of this? When they fail to hold their own on this argument they resort to the lowest and most disturbing strategy to deflect, distract, and stir emotions. The race-card!
The NDP supporters and members have a habit of making claims without providing evidence to the nation, many of them have ended up at the mercy of the court and stripped of their assets for this reckless practice, and they are quick to give declarations on who is skilled, talented, brilliant, and an asset to our country yet they are lacking in all these areas of quality. Case in point; they haven’t won an election in more than 15 years and they are members of the national degradation venue on Facebook called, The Warroom 2. The NDP seem to be hell-bent on destroying St. Vincent and the Grenadines but they will not destroy our blessed land without a battle.
Patriotically yours,
Helen Alexander
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I always maintained that Vincentian should have run Eustace out of town a long time ago.
Luther, its you that needs running, because its you that is the liar.
Arbhim Eustace has never been accused of sexual assault against women. He has nexer been accused of rape.
Arnhim Eustace “is focusing on becoming Moses and instituting a reckless policy that can precipitate a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in our homeland”. And what is this reckless policy? Honorary citizenship for 800,000 Garifuna. And why? Because unlike other countries where Honorary citizenship is purely symbolic, it MAY (my emphasis) not be the same in St Vincent. And on that little word “MAY” Ms Alexander hangs her whole argument, even asserting that Mr Eustace has a “ghastly plan to repatriate 800,000 citizen-strangers” (where did you get that one from Ms Alexander?).
Dear Ms Alexander, in an article in which you talk of people making statements without supporting evidence, you should be the last person to jump from a stated PROPOSAL for honorary citizenship to the statement that this honorary citizenship may not be the same as other countries’ honorary citizenship, (and here you say ‘for these reasons” but you really give no reasons why it might not or could not be the same), and then, by what I can only call a leap over a chasm, you reach the assertion that there is a plan to repatriate 800,000 descendants of the exiled Garifuna! You haven’t just made a mountain out of a molehill. You’ve made Everest and all the Himalayas
Pat I am surprised at you, how on earth can you as a respected and trusted commentator make a guess on this matter “it may”, come on Pat you know better than that.
John “Kuumba” Cato says, we must be careful and not allow “incompetence” to change the discussion or set the agenda. This election is about accomplishments and policies, and has absolutely nothing to do with the Garifunas. The NDP open-ended and nonsensical utterances will get them nowhere. It will be to their benefit if they spend the precious time that is running out on them elaborating on their fifteen point agenda.
John Mumbojumbo, this election will be about the lies, the hatred and the spite heaped on hundreds of Vincentian citizens. It will also be based on ancestry and atrocities carried out by politicians ancestors.
The failures are many times greater than the accomplishments and nasty left wing policies.
In fact Mr Mumbojumbo your open ended nonsensical utterances will get you nowhere. Your disgusting racial beliefs do not belong here. Look in the mirror and heap your hatred on yourself, dont think for one moment Vincentians will support your hatred of the Garifuna.
Helen, you are now and always have been a trouble making fool, and a ULP mouth piece. What you put forward is without evidence and not an ounce of intellectual input.
Arnhim Eustace has put forward a scheme called Honorary Citizenship. This is something which happens worldwide and the formula of which is well known. For you to come here and try and bolster the PM with the same kind of scaremongering rendered by him is disgraceful.
Honorary Citizenship is a certificate that says they are an Honorary Citizen; its like the gift of the freedom or key to a city but of greater magnitude. Its a special circumstances recognition of them and their ancestors as a people from Saint Vincent. They do not get a passport, or the right to vote, and will have to give evidence to their backgrounds, including police reports.
Honorary citizenship does not carry with it the rights and privileges of ordinary citizenship; and such status may not confer any special entry, travel or immigration benefits upon the honoree or the honorees relatives and dependants. It also does not impose additional duties or responsibilities in Saint Vincent or internationally, on the honoree. It is a strictly symbolic act.
No oath is required. Honorary citizens are not usually eligible for regular, official, or diplomatic passports or passport cards. It does not make or give recipients Vincentian Nationality.
If any of them wish to go forward to the next stage and settle in SVG they should be allowed to apply and pass through the current and established legal process of acceptance culminating in full citizenship without the usual fees applied by government.
The USA, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and South Korea to mention a few, all have Honorary citizenship.
Helen all you people running around trying to make political hay from decrying this declared future policy by the NDP, are presenting it in such a way as to try and damage Eustace and the NDP.
But it has backfired on you all including PM Gonsalves, because there are a lot of people on the island who claim to be Garifuna descendents, particularly in the North of the island where the population is predominantly of these people. The Garifuna here welcome the move by the NDP in this matter and so do most all decent Vincentians, at home and in the Diaspora.
I believe the handling of this by PM Gonsalves has resulted in the Garinagu feeling insulted and possibly rejected and they deserve better and certainly an apology. It shows to me the falsity of the adoption of Chatoyee as our National Hero, it also shows the inclusion of them in the reparations talks is also just that political rhetoric designed for re-election purposes.
Whilst I am at it I will remind you that Gonsalves has granted citizenship to people who most people with half a brain would never have done so. One person in particular has brought shame on us and has inflicted severe damage to us regarding foreign investment. Gonsalves has also overseen diplomatic passports being issued whereby a man travelled to the UK and was found to have a kilo of cocaine in his baggage. The man was not a diplomat and did not work for the government.
The due diligence carried out on persons who apply for full citizenship has not been strict or stringent enough under the ULP regime. That is why when the NDP are in office, all the nonsense will stop, and what has gone in the past will be investigated and evaluated to see if there is any reason for prosecution.
Notice the women of Labor sounding very convincing with their master piece. They make you jokers look like born clowns. Helen understands the law on honorary citizenship that was passed in 1996 by the previous NDP administration, a law that was repealed by this administration (ULP) to include the right to a passport and permanent residence. All yo aint shame?! Punks! The women, ah say the women of Vinciland is smarter, brighter, more convincing than the lot ah you, and they kicking all yo butts. You all are poor examples of Vincimen. Punks!
As I pointed out before, the Garifuna issue offloaded by Eustace and the NDP is another one of their lowest form of political chicanery coming from that camp it doesnt have any substance at all, or whatever they can garner from it will only last for a very short period of time, and will eventually fizzle out like an open bottle of Ginger Ale; Ill call it GARIFUNA ALE, bottled in Belize by W. Ramos and Co Inc, and distributed in SVG by A. Eustace and Co Inc.
It is a matter of fact as reported by the Searchlight newspaper on June 6, that Mr Eustace and the NDP had retracted their statement. Retracted!!??… Statement!!?? What ah bunch ah stink-um poop-errs! Somehow, I expected that! I m sure PM GONSALVES expected that too. As a matter of fact, that is what got him into trouble IN THE FIRST PLACE, well not really, HEs STILL RIGHT! NDP is mad like hell!
If we listen to Mr Eustace in New York at the Friends of Crown Height hall:I expect the New Democratic Party to win the next election, and I say here tonight, I declare here tonight! That having won, I would take the first step, by making all the Garifuna (Garinagu) honorary citizen of St Vincent and the Grenadines you get to understand the whole scheme ah things. Wait a second, did he say all? Yep! He said all!
When I first heard this statement, live and in color at the Friends Crown Heights, I humorously fainted. (My friends were like, behave yourself!) First at the superlative all, then I wondered what could become of my beloved homeland…. And does this really make much sense? Whew! Eustace is nuts, and so are the NDP. I cant stop saying to myself would these guys go to that extreme to get into power? What the hell for? Nah! Thats low, real low. Vinciman would not have that! And Im sure PM Gonsalves overs that too.
The last laugh will be on you when the latest scandalous news about ULP breaks soon.
They won’t be able to get rid of the joker we need a laughing stock Mr Eustace confiscate the power of the NDP party, in which he contested 3 general election same result he really wants to break all the political records in St Vincent. Come next week he have more jokes to shear.
Big Head your so full of crap. Every election since 2005 the NDP have gained voters and the ULP have lost voters.
Just a reminder Eustace has never beeen accused of sexual assault and he has never been charged with rape.
Black Vincentians — the descendants of slaves — should be the last people in the world to promote racism and xenophobia, but this is exactly what you, a woman who fled in the dead of night with one suitcase and one change of clothing, her passage paid with dirty money earned from the theft of land from our founding Garifuna to better herself in America is promulgating.
Shame on you for your bigoted approach to the founding people of our blessed homeland and for knowingly misinterpreted the meaning of honourary citizenship, a concept that is recognized all over the world as merely a symbolic gesture.
Why do you have so much hatred in your heart for a people — the Garifuna – who were so brutally treated by our white slavemasters and whose only wish is to remember and cherish our country as their ancestral homeland?
I guess you must feel the same hatred towards Native Americans whose land you are now occupying in America which was stolen from them and then immorally sold to you.
May God have mercy on your wicked soul.
It’s simple really David, she is just following orders.
Remember the Germans murdered millions of Jews, Gipsies and people with physical and mental disability. They all said when put on trial after the war “we were just following orders”.
Besides that it is the official ULP policy.