Opposition not confident gov’t will use money to repair houses, roads ahead of election 

Opposition Leader Godwin Friday says he has no confidence in the Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration to spend as allocated the EC$98.6 million in additional money that Parliament has approved for the port being built in Kingstown, housing and road repairs. 

The government used its Parliamentary majority to approve the spending this year, which is in addition to the EC$1.85 billion approved in January. 

Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves said EC$25.6 million will go to the new port, to which EC$700 million had been allocated, as well as EC$41.75 million to repair houses destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Beryl on July 1, 2025 and EC$28.2 million more for road repairs. Additionally, EC$3 million will go for the accommodation in apartments and guest houses of people who have been displaced by Hurricane Beryl.

During the debate on the allocations, the opposition leader noted that the EC$28.2 million to be spent on road repairs before year-end had been projected to be spent in 2026.

“They have now said that … they have spent all the money that was allocated for the road projects in 2025. That is over $41 million, and they need to spend more between now and whenever elections are called  — $28.2 million,” Friday said.

General elections in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are constitutionally due by February 2026, but are widely expected by November 2025.

Friday said that the spending of the EC$28.2 million had been moved from 2026 to 2025 but no source had been determined, unless the government was going to raise additional money.

He said Gonsalves had “outlined with such theatrics” all the roads that the government is fixing, saying they have completed 92% of whatever they had targeted. 

“After 20 years of neglecting the roads in this country — 20 years — they are now coming with last-minute desperation saying, ‘Oh, we are going to fix all of these roads for you.’…

“… it’s typical of this present government. … they set the house on fire then they bring the hose and they put it out and they say, ‘Applaud me! Look at how much we have accomplished.’”

Friday, however, said this approach is “nonsense”, adding, “You have to have scheduled and regular maintenance. 

“You look at every constituency, and you could point to one and two that you fix here and there, but there are 10 and 12 that are still in a state of terrible disrepair,” he said. 

Friday said that in his own constituency, roads are in a terrible state, adding that some of them are obstacle courses rather than roads.

“But, pardon me if I don’t stand up and applaud, because what we see is that the evidence speaks for itself. All over the country, the roads are still in a state of utter disrepair. So even if I fix 15 or 20, the perception is that the roads are worse now than they’ve ever been in this country. So that’s where we are,” Friday said.

On the issue of housing, the opposition leader noted that the government was asking Parliament to approve EC$41.7 million in additional spending this year. 

“So now, I have to ask the question whether the money that was allocated in 2025 has been spent,” he said, noting that the opposition supported the supplementary estimates in July 2024, after the devastation caused by Hurricane Beryl.

“…  and we acknowledge additional funding may be needed because the scope of the devastation was so great,” Friday said, adding that the problem is not only the amount of money allocated but also how it is spent. 

“And you’re hearing far too many complaints and you’re seeing too many instances or evidence of people not getting the assistance that they need. 

‘… what happened to the money that was allocated?’

“You know that homes that are not being repaired,” Friday said, adding that people have had to use their savings and beg friends and relatives to be able to get back into their homes. 

He said this was the case, although the Parliament allocated over EC$136.4 million, including monies for housing, in the supplementary estimates after the passage of Hurricane Beryl.

“So what happened to the money that was allocated? Why is it that so many people are still not being assisted?” Friday said.

“How are you going to assist the persons, for example, in the Southern Grenadines, where they have been terribly affected, and still the tarpaulin done rip off of some of the roof. And some people are here in temporary accommodations, and they want to go back to their homes. Those should be priority but they have not been given that priority.”

Friday said the country is grateful for the tremendous assistance it received from private donors after the cyclone.

“Thank God for that, because without that, the situation would have been a lot more desperate for the people in the Southern Grenadines,” he said.

“So the question is, how are those people going to be assisted, given the fact that we have had, over the course of time, the whole year that has passed, that the government has not met the needs of some of the most urgently affected persons or persons with the most urgent need,” Friday said.

“And you could pretend and talk about whole transparency and your fixing on the basis of need. I know for a fact that persons are being prioritised based on their political affiliation… 

“I know for a fact that the people who have been affected by Hurricane Beryl desperately needed assistance, but I have no confidence that the money that you are going to pass in this Parliament is going to assist those persons who are most in need.”

He noted that the government has said that it would build prefabricated houses for storm victims.

“When are those prefab houses going to come? Why weren’t they here early so that the persons who are displaced from the Southern Grenadines could have had them to use, go back into their communities, rebuild their lives?” Friday said. 

He asked whether the government had found land to relocate those people to.

“So I have no confidence in you, in this administration, to say that the funds that we allocate now will be used for the purpose intended…

Friday said he did not want the additional money to be “used in a way that is inefficient, wasteful, inappropriate, when in fact, they are real needs for people to be met with these hard-earn funds, and that is a problem that I have with what the minister is saying that we are to do with respect to this bill.

“There’s a lot to be done. The supplementary estimates, as they are presented here, have a fundamental problem. In addition to all that I’ve mentioned in these specific areas, I do not trust this government in these last dying months of this regime to use these funds in a way that is going to be beneficial and useful to the people who are intended,” Friday told Parliament.

He said the evidence over the past year with respect to Beryl and the evidence over the past years of the ULP administration support his position. 

“And so, the call for the opposition to support this is one that I cannot answer in the affirmative,” the opposition leader told Parliament.