Leader of the Opposition, Godwin Friday says that it is futile to attempt to shame the Unity Labour Party administration into fixing the pothole-ridden roads across St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“They are not potholes anymore. Some of them are craters,” Friday told a New Democratic Party (NDP) town hall meeting in Georgetown on Thursday.
“I say that we should go around them and christen them and give them a name and then we have competition for their birthdays and so on, see when the government will fix them,” he said.
“But you know you can’t shame this government. I tried. You cannot shame them,” Friday said, noting that he had spoken in Parliament of the state of roads in his Northern Grenadines constituency.
He said the taxi drivers have been complaining and asking him to raise the issue on their behalf.
“And I raised the question in Parliament with the Minister [of Works], and you know what he tell me? He say Bequia ain’t have bad road like the mainland. If you wah see bad road, come up on the mainland.
“This is the minister you know. And he offered to take me around to show me where they have worse roads on the mainland. So, the point is, I mustn’t complain.
“Now, as a minister, you should be ashamed about that. That is not something to use to say you can’t fix roads because here bad,” Friday said, adding that roads should not be allowed to get to their current state of deterioration.
“And the reason it happens is because the government, basically, they disrespect the people,” Friday said.
He said that while the government decides not to spend on the roads, motorists have no choice but to spend to repair their vehicles.
“They are transferring the cost to us, even after the vehicle registration fees are going up and up every year,” he said.