Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves missed Parliament on Tuesday and has not reported to work this week, reportedly because he is recuperating from an accident in his official vehicle on last week.
An official at the Office of the Prime Minister declined to comment on the report that Gonsalves was involved in an accident.
“You are asking me to confirm a report? The Prime Minister would have to be the one to comment on that,” the official told iWitness News Thursday evening.
“The most I can say, he has not been at work for the week,” the official further told iWitness News.
Deputy Prime Minister Sir Louis Straker told Parliament on Tuesday that Gonsalves would miss the meeting because he was “indisposed”.
The deputy prime minister offered no further explanation about the absence of the 71-year-old leader, who has been prime minister since 2001 and a Member of Parliament for 23 years.
However, iWitness News understands that Gonsalves was thrown about in his official vehicle — a Toyota Prado, registration number G7, commissioned in November 2014 — as it swerved to avoid another vehicle on the way to the Argyle International Airport last week.
Gonsalves, according to the report, was on the way to the airport to fly to Trinidad, where he delivered a speech last week Tuesday, Oct. 31.
The Vincentian leader delivered the Inaugural Excellence Lecture hosted by the Association of Caribbean States in Port-of-Spain.
He spoke on the topic “Towards an ACS Standard of Excellence in Coordination, Cooperation and Concerted Action in the Face of Disasters”.
It is the second time that the prime minister has been injured as a result of an accident involving his official vehicle.
A few years ago, the prime minister and a member of his security detail had to be flown to Cuba for medical attention after a truck crashed into his motorcade.
Where is the press secretary? Should’nt he be making a statement on behalf of the PM? Does’nt the public have a right to know the status of the PM?
Glen Jackson wasn’t assassinated already… You know the present press secretary has 2 take it ez
You are asking me to confirm a report? The Prime Minister would have to be the one to comment on that. Translation: The Prime Minister is in charge of everything.
A smug or cowardly jackass with an obsequious statement that did more damage (they do not learn) than if they were a tad forthright. Forthright? Honesty? Them is bridges to far since sixteen years ago.
Contemptuous toadies like that, of which we have a goodish few, can exist and thrive only in authoritarian states. As demonstrated
I was about to say that it will be generations before we get a John McCain but the truth is, the gap between our way and the John McCains is widening. We would not have a John McCain. Ever. Now, thats a bridge too far.