There are persons in St. Vincent and the Grenadines trying to undermine the negotiations of the government with cruise lines regarding the repatriation of Vincentian sailors and oil rig workers, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves says.
“… there are persons who want to undermine the government’s negotiating position. They are sending things to cruise lines, telling them that the government must pay for this thing,” Gonsalves said on WE FM on Sunday.
“And those who ain’t sending, they writing it up all about so that the cruise lines are seeing, believing that people are bringing pressure on Ralph so that Ralph would cave in and just bring them willy-nilly. But I wouldn’t cave in.
“We have to do this thing properly…” the prime minister said, adding, “… you know me, you know when I give you my word I want to see them, our nationals come back but it has to be done properly.”
The government has been locked in negotiations with the cruise lines over the past few weeks.
The government had detailed terms and conditions for the repatriation of Vincentians sailors, including a certificate of health indicating their COVID-19 status.
Further, the employers of the sailors or oil rig workers must pay the government EC$150 per day for 14 to 21 days for the quarantine of the sailors at hotels or guesthouses.
But some persons have questioned the government’s approach, saying that after the return of the sailors to SVG, they should become the responsibility of the state.
They further said that the repatriation of the sailors should not be further delayed by the government’s demands.
Gonsalves said:
“And we can’t be so unpatriotic to try and undermine your own government in relation to some people who don’t want to take up their responsibilities, some people, meaning maybe some people inside of cruise lines.
“I will have more to say about all of this thing. You notice I have a lot of answers and a lot of things to see about some of this stuff which is going on.
“But I will say them at the appropriate time when people will make a determination as to what kind of leadership they want for the next five years for this country but the argument is not for now.”
He said that some persons have even criticised the frequency with which he has been commenting on the issue.
“I see some opportunists even writing –It has been drawn to my attention — that I talking too much. The Prime Minister of this country must talk on this thing every day, if necessary, and it is necessary. I can’t leave people in any state of uncertainty. I have to bring clarity to the matter,” Gonsalves said.
He added that the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Simone Keizer-Beache and the Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Roger Duncan are talking about the technical matters.
These returning sailors are at the end of their contracts and are no longer employees of the Cruise Ship Lines. The shipping lines have a legal obligation to pay for their transport home [a reasonable cost].
They have no legal obligation to deliver them home to SVG. That goes above and beyond there legal obligations. If they collected them from SVG perhaps there would be some obligation, but these people turned up and joined the ships elsewhere.
There can be no legal obligation to pay the accommodation of ex employees or for quarantine. Those employees the moment they step off the ships are responsible for their own costs.
Stop the wheeling dealing and get these folk home, we will not forget how you are treating our citizens.
So you will not cave in and the Cruise lines may not pay, where does that leave us seamen? Are we nomads?
How come its not the responsibility of cruise lines companies to take care of employees whenever they are on vacation. So I don’t see the irony in this.
Worldwide the total number of days for quarantining is 14, so how come Ralph is using 21. This is nothing but a hoax because there is no need to bribe the companies to pay the money to the government. The companies should give the money to the workers and let them use it for their own protection
I haven’t seen any other government trying to bribe companies to bring its people home. Why is Ralph trying this bogus tactic? Let the people come home and quarantine themselves in their homes. They have home in SVG and are not nationals of a different country.
Where are the parents, siblings and friends of these people? Folks should come out and demand these Vincentians be allowed to come home as long as they tested negative for the virus. This should be the only holdup for this entire episode. This issue shows the lack of leadership and it’s time to change the leader.
Vincentians have to stop this foolishness of being pushed around by dictators. Maybe the Grenadines and the Leeward side of the island should call for independence because Ralph is leader of the Windward side of the island.
The PM is defending the indefensible. The bottom line is that he put monetary negotiations infront of the safe return of our nationals while they remain stranded abroad. election is arou d the corner and a.portiin of that group and their relatives will remember come election time. I wonder which hotel/s he is ppanning to house them in? Who stands to profit feom this? Something stinks to high heaven here.
The PM is defending the indefensible. The bottom line is that he puts monetary negotiations ahead of the safe return of our nationals, while they remain stranded abroad. No worries, election is around the corner and a.portion of that group and their relatives will remember come election time. I wonder which hotel/s he is planning to house them in? Who stands to profit from this? Something stinks to high heaven.
@Lee Don Ron, you got to be a total idiot. Can you really compare vacation of employees to what is taking place with this corona virus/covid 19 globally? It’s a totally different thing and once someone is on vacation they are still entitled to be paid.
All of you who have the most to say go and do some research on the maritime law
Get your facts before commenting.. Because as soon as these guys step off the cruise ship they are still the responsibility of the employer. When they get to their home then it’s when it’s over..