The president of the Public Service Union, Elroy Boucher, has rejected the call by Storm Gonsalves, son of Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, to fire public servants over what he presented as their attempt to undermine his father’s government.
In an Aug. 19 Facebook post, the younger Gonsalves, who has no official role in the government and is not known to be a state employee, said, “Too many poor people suffering at the hand of biased, unelected officials!”
Storm Gonsalves said: “A small few of these powerful agents of chaos, our version of the deep state, choose sabotage instead of progress!
“Your road cabinet approved and funded. It ain’t start yet! Waiting on a fella who dont want the ULP to win to process the payments. Contractor on go slow because he done win the contract and he hate Ralph.
“You want to extend your house and you getting block but the man next to you building a shack with no issue!”
He said grants given under PRYME, an initiative through which the government gives money to small businesses, are “on hold because your file ‘lost’.
“We not blind. We, the people, see your tricks. If you want to run the government, go to the polls and win fair and square. Stop the sabotage or else you will be cut down to size!” the prime minister’s son said.
“Gentlemen and women in those positions, abusing your position, count yo days!
“For those who deny every day Vincentians justice, because you frightened your name will call on radio if you do the right thing, don’t worry. The people will call your name and it will ring out louder than any social media post or radio show…”
Speaking on the PSU’s radio show on Monday, Boucher, suggested that Storm Gonsalves does not care about poor Vincentians.
“… he speaks about the poor but it is this government that refused to lower the VAT even when prices were always increasing,” Boucher said.
“The poor is struggling. Cost of living is skyrocketing,” he said, noting that when the cost of living is high, the government collects more tax money.
“So lowering the VAT will have been good to mitigate the high cost of living without having a serious impact on the revenue of the government,” the union leader said.
“But you love the poor so much, and you refuse to lower the VAT. The union asked for a reduction in the VAT; the opposition been always asking for reduction in the VAT, and they, of course, would have seen that it is possible, because the revenue from VAT will not be reduced…”
The opposition New Democratic Party announced in 2020 that if elected to office, it would reduce VAT from 16 to 13%. The party has maintained that policy.
Boucher spoke of encounters with people whose salaries are unable to meet their needs and who have to juggle their bills.
“I don’t think these things affect him,” Boucher said of the prime minister’s son.
“… those are some of the issues that when I read, I’m like, ‘Is he for real? Do you know what Vincentians have been going through for the past how many years?’”
He noted that the report of the poverty assessment, which was conducted in 2018, is yet to be released.
“You have not even had any survey done to assess the level of unemployment, and maybe it’s not being done because the government doesn’t want to find out,” Boucher said.
Leaked data released by the opposition in 2020 showed that poverty has increased in most communities in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the decade ending 2018.
Boucher said that by employment, he was referring to people with full-time jobs, and not those who work two months a year.
“Those are things to talk about, because those are things that speak to the quality of the life that the Vincentian people are living.”
He noted that some people had spoken out in support of Gonsalves’ comments.
“The number of persons who are not on the gravy train is 10 times to 50 times more than the persons who are on the gravy train. So you see these persons who are babbling in support of the comments, they’re getting their regular gravy while the majority of Vincentians hang out dry,” Boucher said.
He said there could be progress if the government takes the approach of moving SVG forward as one.
“If you were to set aside partisan politics, the discrimination, the nepotism, the favouritism, … then maybe we can take off economically,” Boucher said.
“And the interesting thing is, by not giving way to meritocracy in the public service, you do not get the best people at the top, and therefore it impacts on the productivity in the public service, and if it impacts on the productivity, it impacts our development.”
Storm Gonsalves holds “no official role in the government.” He provides no verifiable evidence for his claims of intentional sabotage. These are serious allegations that, if made officially, would require a formal investigation, not a Facebook post. Storm Gonsalves call to “cut down to size” and fire public servants based on perceived political disloyalty suggests that employment and job security should be contingent on political allegiance to the ruling party, not competence or merit.
Only family and friends alone are entitled ,? this place belong to dem alone? . Dem are our masters and the people are de lowest common denominators , slaves , voting pigs?