One day before Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves was slated to present the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 2025 to Parliament, Opposition Leader Godwin Friday outlined several promises in the 2024 budget that the government was yet to fulfil.
He said at a New Democratic Party’s press conference in Kingstown that the 2025 Estimates contain “many shortcomings”, noting that in the 2024 fiscal package, the government has said that it would transform education.
“From education to fisheries, tourism to health care, the 2024 budget promised a lot but failed to deliver,” Friday said.
He said the government failed to deliver on its promise to start rehabilitation of the Owia Fisheries Complex.
“That was built over 15 years ago and it has never worked. Over $30 million spent on it. … It was like presenting the people of North Windward with something that ought to help them, bread to feed them, but keeping it out of reach because it has never functioned,” the opposition leader said.
The fisheries complex is now “a derelict facility,” he said, adding, “They said they were going to fix it [last] year. They had not done so.”
In January 2024, Parliament approved an EC$1.62 billion budget for 2024, an 11.8% increase over the approved budget for 2023.
It was made up of recurrent expenditure, inclusive of amortisation and sinking fund contributions, of EC$1. billion and capital expenditure of EC$570.5 million
However, on Wednesday, Friday said that Gonsalves failed to deliver even on the promises that he made about East St. George, which he represents in Parliament.
“… of course, his constituency, he’s representative. So he want to big up his self. So he says that East Saint George budget, and he would deliver, he would develop the area into a business hub. He has not done so, not even started. Seems to have no interest in the constituency as a representative,” Friday said.
Regarding education, Friday noted that work was yet to begin on the Thomas Sander Secondary School campus at Richmond Hill, Kingstown Anglican School, Sandy Bay Secondary School or the new Secondary School at Brighton.
“These are plans they said would be done in 2024 — at least started,” the opposition leader pointed out.
Also, the government has not fulfilled its promise to upgrade the National Public Library or build cultural, education and production hubs in Bellevue, Petit Bordel and Tromaca.
“Of course, this is an election year, so they will scramble to start them this year. Then if they get back in, the work will stop. That is the game plan; that has been their track record,” Friday siad.
“We can expect that that is what will continue if, by some freak measure, they were to get back into office.”
In the fisheries sector, the government had promised to establish safe and sanitary facilities for fishers operating out of Lowmans Bay and Shipping Bay.
“That’s in the budget last year. Not started.”
The opposition leader said that he does not support the government’s concept of a solidarity fishing fleet.
Friday said this amounts to the government taking over the fishing industry and turning fishermen into deckhands rather than resulting in organic growth in the sector.
He, however, noted that Budget 2024 allocated $4.4 million this year to purchase and equip four modern tuna boats in the first instance and to train fishers in the operation of those vessels and the business of commercial fishing.
“None of that has been done,” Friday said.
In the tourism sector, the promised commencement of construction of the Marriott Resort at Mt Wynne was not realised.
“That’s been on the calendar for some time now — not started,” Friday said.
“These are their promises. We are entitled to hold them to account for their promises. We didn’t tell them to put it in there,” the opposition leader said.
“They put it in there to sweet mouth people. So now what we have to do is to say, ‘Listen, you put it there. Where has it been delivered?’”
He said the government did not develop on its Budget 2024 promise to develop 16 acres of land along the coast of Brighton in the recreational park and bird-watching retreat.
The 2024 Budget also included money to improve the airport infrastructure in Bequia, Union Island, and Canouan, which was not done, Friday said.
“They did some work, yes, but they were repairing parts of the runway that they said had been affected by Hurricane Beryl.
“But I know in Union Island they lost some of the roof, the tiling and so forth. And. in Bequia, the part of the runway at the JF Mitchell Airport was covered in debris. There was some repair that was done there to the protecting wall, but the dereliction that was there long before that, none of that has been dealt with, has been fixed, still leaking,” Friday said.
He said the government has not begun construction of a smart health clinic in Belair, as promised, Friday said, adding that there are similar broken promises in Budgets 2023, 2022 and 2021.
“And now this year, this will be the year of promises, Santa Claus will have to take a back seat to the present government,” Friday said.
He said he wanted Vincentian to understand the context in which the budget would be debated “and what the government will come with to try to win hearts and votes leading into an election year…
“… they will promise the world, and they will fail to deliver. Our people must be aware of this when they hear the grand promises, and in 2025, … they will try to pull the wool over our eyes once again. And we must say, no more, enough of that; we will not let it happen.”
He said that in parliament, the job of opposition MPs “will be to continue to expose the falsehoods, the inconsistencies, the sloppiness, the lack of care and attention to the business of the people and the empty promises that are evident in the estimates as they were presented and we will find in the budget that will be presented on the 13th”.
Friday said it is important that Vincentians take time and listen to the budget debate.