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Most politicians are pretty loquacious creatures. It comes with the territory. How else could they get the attention of voters if they didn’t talk a lot, sometimes with great erudition, on a whole host of political issues?
This is especially true of the Honourable Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, the second-longest-serving Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, whose verbal finesse, debating skills, prodigious intellect, and advanced learning are second to none. As some have said, he would easily best America’s Barack Obama, no slouch when it comes to oratorical sparring, in a debate on just about any issue of the Obama’s choice.
So it is more than surprising that our garrulous Prime Minister has been so taciturn when it comes to the two most important issues facing Argyle International Airport: the airlines that will be servicing an airport which he has just called “for all practical purposes, finished” and the hotels and resorts that will be constructed to serve the explosion in international tourist arrivals the airport is meant to unleash.
Whenever even tentative agreements are in place with airlines or hotel/resort developers, these are immediately made public by all parties to achieve maximum publicity gain and international tourism recognition.
When investors just pumped US$200 million into the Jamaican hotel sector, we were immediately told about it.
But our own Honourable Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has yet again “declined to call the names of the airlines that he said have agreed to service the airport” or those parties who have said they want to build a resort at Mt. Wynne, a city at Arnos Vale, and a hotel and other facilities in Kingstown.
This is all the more surprising given the way he shouted from the rooftops that Harlequin Hotels and Resorts was planning to build a resort complex at Buccament Bay 10 years ago.
All this secrecy about Argyle International Airport airlines and hotel spin-offs has not prevented the Prime Minister from still claiming, “But I am telling you, and I will call them when I am ready. We have two international airlines out of the United States ready to come to Argyle. We have one out of Canada ready to come and we have also out of Europe, including the United Kingdom.”
What are their names Prime Minister, or has the cat got your normally effusive tongue?
This is the eighteenth in a series of essays on the folly of the proposed Argyle International Airport.
My other AIA pieces may be found at:
- Get ready for a November election!
- Lessons for Argyle Airport from Canada’s Montreal–Mirabel Int’l
- Lessons for Argyle Int’l Airport from the cruise industry
- Lessons from Target Canada for Argyle Int’l Airport
- Lessons from Trinidad & Tobago for Argyle Int’l Airport
- The Dark Side of Tourism: Lessons for Argyle Airport
- Why Argyle Won’t Fly: Lessons from Dominica
- Ken Boyea and the Phantom City at Arnos Vale
- Airport Envy Vincy-Style
- Fully realising our country’s tourism potential
- Airport without a cause
- The unnatural place for an international airport
- The Potemkin Folly at Argyle
- False patriotism and deceitful promises at Argyle
- Airport politics and betrayal Vincy-Style
- Phony airport completion election promises, Vincy-style
- Is Argyle Airport really a ‘huge game-changer for us?’
C. ben-David
The opinions presented in this content belong to the author and may not necessarily reflect the perspectives or editorial stance of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].
Mr C. ben-David,
How is it you cant wait. Its not everything you make public you know. Do you want the airlines name to be bantered about like a political football.?
You already know how the NDP likes to talk everything negative about the airport especially against the ULP so that they could win Government. Look at the things they said about Cuba, Venezuela, Equador etc. Lets imagine that NDP were to win, I dont know how they will face these Governments who have been so kind to us.
How you want the names of airlines?
The NDP will tarnish the names of these airlines so that they could win, you know that. And that’s only because the NDP is a very senseless bunch.
I agree with the PM. He shouldn’t tell YOU nor the NDP the names of these airlines. Just humble and wait. YOU and the NDP isn’t going to mess up things for us. We want a good AIA.
Allyo move out the way of progress
The truth is that no airline wants to come to SVG. It is not because the airport is not built quite right. The problem is not really even ULP or NDP. It is a Caribbean Problem. It is a well known fact, stated by the airlines themselves that they do not like to fly to the Caribbean because it is too expensive. These countries are too greedy. They charge too much taxes and of course, under Mitchell and particularly Ralph Gonsalves, SVG is about the greediest country in the Caribbean. Ralph loves to spend money….money that we don’t have so he goes all over the world and gets any loan he can so that your great, great grandchildren will still be paying for Ralphonomics. Why would any airline want to come here get the least benefit at the highest cost? That is Ralphonomics!
Listen my friend, I will not disagree that we got some ” donkey cart thinking Vincentian “.
I wrote that there should have had a fifth plane with all of them in it and through them out in Argyle Sea.
On this web page here the biggest ” ass ” is this Kenton Chance, ” peter Bemuse” or what other aliases he uses.
So the one to move out of the way here, is this LAP DOG, critter RAT call Kenton.
ha !
Listen, I agree with you, that there is a lot of ” donkey cart thinking jack ass Vincentian ”
I wrote that there should have been a fifth plan at Argyle with all of them in it, stating with this Kenton chance or what other name he uses like Peter Bemuse , through all them mother FU***S out into Argyle Sea.
Now on this web page he is the jack ass who write these S***T.
That little ” P*****Y Cloth boy, and a LAP DOG of that LAZY MONKEY HEAD Eustace.
ha !
The simple truth is that there are no names to tell.