Minister of Finance, Camillo Gonsalves, has identified what he sees as some of the “fundamental” problems in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 25 years after the Unity Labour Party (ULP) came to office.
“When you hear, … Leacock said, the fundamental problem in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is that politicians nah get enough money. How could that be the fundamental problem that we’re facing in this country?” he said in Calliaqua on Sunday.
Gonsalves, who is seeking a third term in office as MP for East St. George, was speaking about a statement that Central Kingstown MP St. Clair Leacock made earlier this year as he illustrated how the low salaries of MPs, relative to public servants, result in low pensions for retired lawmakers, a point that Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves agreed with.
Leacock pointed out that some public servants make more money than the ministers who head their ministries.
Leacock, an opposition lawmaker, noted that as an opposition MP, his salary is less than he was paid as a graduate teacher in the 1980s.
The ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) has been using Leacock’s statement out of context as part of their propaganda in the campaign for the upcoming general election.
On Sunday, the finance minister, who is also MP for East St. George, said:
“If you ask [Education Minister] Curtis [King], he will tell you the fundamental problem is that the young people have to have better access to education and TVET education,” Gonsalves said
“If you ask [Agriculture Minister] Saboto [Caesar], he will tell you the fundamental problem is that the farmers and the fisherfolk have to get great opportunities to succeed.
“If you ask [Health Minister] Jimmy [Prince], he will tell you that the fundamental problem is that health care has to get better and more affordable for the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
He said Minister of National Mobilisation, Keisal Peters would say “that the fundamental problem is that the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines need a better social safety net to keep them up when times are hard.
“And if you ask every single one of us, we will say the fundamental problem is that we have to do more for the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines, because we are a people-centred government.
“We don’t say the fundamental problem is that we want more money. How that could be the fundamental problem?” the finance minister said.
“The fundamental problem, like Saboto said, is that we have to raise the minimum wage. The fundamental problem is that young people in this country must have opportunities, as the prime minister says, to fly like eagles with their wings unclipped.”
He said the “fundamental problem is that we are impatient to make St. Vincent and the Grenadines a first-world nation.
“And the fundamental problem is that there are backward people in St. Vincent and the Grenadines who want to hold back the revolutionary dreams and aspirations of the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines.”
Gonsalves, a lawyer, is expected to face a challenge by the NDP’s Laverne Gibson-Velox, a retired banker, who will make her second bid to unseat him.
In the 2020 vote, Gonsalves defeated Gibson-Velox by 196 votes, down from 607 votes in 2015, when he first won the seat.
General elections are widely expected by November, ahead of the February 2026 constitutional deadline.
Despite the Minister of Finance using several examples about what is the fundamental problem in SVG. He still couldn’t come up with a good formulation.
Let me tell him free.
The key problem is LACK of ECONOMIC GROWTH.
ULP Administrations produced little economic growth.
Under Mitchell governments the economy grew faster.
Who could forget the days of “Green Gold.” The growth of the banana industry? When incomes grew especially for farmers. And money circulated around the economy.
Economics growth leads to a higher standard of living. Like farmers and others had. Being able to educate their children, build better houses and more. (No scholarships here).
Better housing, better health and education, better roads.
And money in your pocket.
What industry have the ULP created in the last 24 years?
They didn’t even manage to grow agriculture sector. They didn’t grow Arrowroot.
They relied heavily on Tourism, which only reaches part of the economy and much money made in this sector leaks out of the economy.
Yes, SVG faced many disasters, like hurricane, Volcanic eruption, COVID 19 and others. But it seems to me there were no economic Thinkers in the government to drive the in certain direction.
(Anyone remember Sims Martin)
The World Boss was in charge of everything and pushed the economy in one direction.
At least a dual strategy was needed. The development of Agriculture and Tourism. Combined with Construction and other sectors.
Vincentians are paying a heavy price for insufficient knowledge of Gonsalves about the management of a small economy.
Well hope is at hand.
Talk about going to confession! This item could easily have been Headlined, ” Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa”! I am guilty, I am Guilty, I am Gilty to the greatest extent!!” Ralph Gonsalves being a susposedly staunch Roman Catholic , will under this admission not just of guilt, but of failure! What is attributed here to Camiilo Gonsalves is in fact his standing before the people and saying that “after 24 years in office, I stand before you the people, to declare that the ULP Government has failed by its ‘own moist grievious fault to successfully address the deep problems facing the country over that time. We have wrecked the foundations that had been laid by the NDP, and despite our best efforts we could not and have not delivered on our promises to improve the conditions, social and economic, of the people of the country” I call upon the supporters of the ULP to give dep and sober reflection and thought to what the goodly gentleman has said. Having done so, they hsould then ask themselves whether such an admission does in fact merit their continued support in the upcoming elections. Or should they seek the guidance of The Book of Daniel in the Scriptures – Daniel 5.25. ” MENE! MENE! TEKEL! UPHARSIN! Yuo have been weighed in the balance and found wanting!” we know the outcome of that admonition. The kingdom of Belshazzar was no more! That is he message to be drawn of Gonsalves admission of failure!