Opposition Leader, Ralph Gonsalves has criticised a list of people selected to serve on the boards of statutory entities in the country, saying the New Democratic Party government had selected “friends and family” to serve as directors.
The leader of the opposition said that he had warned the people during and before the campaign for the November 2025 general elections.
“I made it plain and I pointed out that friends and family will get the statutory boards and the state-owned companies and they will run them,” he said on on his weekly radio programme on Star Radio.
“People think I was just being an alarmist, but now you see the names of the people on boards have come and what you have, friends and family and a little bit in between,” he said on Monday.
Gonsalves said there was a difference between the NDP led by Sir James Mitchell – which was voted out of office in March 2001 — and that led by Godwin Friday, which came to office in November.
The opposition leader said Mitchell had a connection with the working people and the farmers.
“I told you on the campaign trail and before the campaign trail that the NDP has been captured by an urban and suburban elite,” Gonsalves said on Monday.
“I say some of them have come from poor and working people, but once they got their education and their training they move away from their roots and they become big shots,” he said.
One or two of those appointed to the boards were from the middle-class areas within Kingstown where there were lower-class and working people, the opposition leader said, adding that there were also some elites populating the boards from areas including Indian Bay, Villa and Prospect.
“And where you see a few others in other parts of the country are friends and family including baby mamas for political elites, who you just elected at the end of November and there is such an uproar because when you look at this list and it is analysed by people on Facebook who know them, so much so that some of the analysis not even complete,” Gonsalves said.
He said the list includes husbands and wives, parents and children, and even appointments that represented “a clear conflict of interest”.
“In some cases, they put people in charge who have direct material interest in the very boards or enterprises on which they put them,” Gonsalves said.
He told radio listeners that when appointing people to serve on statutory boards, the most fundamental principles was “you don’t put rat to watch cheese”.
There were also instances where individuals were selected to serve on multiple boards.
“That should happen only very rarely if it is entirely unavoidable, but in this thing, there are multiple memberships,” Gonsalves said.
He contended that when the Unity Labour Party (ULP) was in office, no public servant was appointed to serve, except for those that warrants a senior public servant to sit on the board.
Gonsalves explained that the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health served on the board for the Central Water and Sewerage Authority (CWSA) and the Director of Finance and Planning served on the Procurement Board.
“The other thing to avoid, you avoided friends and family — ministers’ spouses populate the board, minister’s fianceé populate the board, minister’s baby mama pop up on the board.
“If it is an odd case, you will say well you understand it, if it is odd but generalise, it’s like there was a recklessness, no caring at all about what the public will say about this bad governance approach,” Gonsalves said.
He addressed the issue of individuals serving on multiple boards, saying that it was understandable that there were some loyal party supporters who supported the NDP throughout.
“But the fact that you have been a warrior, even if you don’t have the capacity, find somewhere else for you, and they’re going to put you on two or three boards? That cannot be right,” Gonsalves said.
“This thing is a scandal and the people who are most in uproar are the NDP people, the NDP supporters because they want to know inadvertently, they thought they elected a government that reflected them but it reflects a government of elites and friends and family,” he added.
What does Ralph Gonsalves want? Does he want the government to pick his appointees?
Ralph, yo days done, go home.
Ex world boss wants accountability, talks about nepotism..this man is finally sober..was drunk off power for quite a few yrs. Happy to see him gone into being the ” irrelevant world boss”.
Ralph criticized yourself for all the wrong things you have done to people from 1976 when you were lecturing in cavehill and what you did to your coworker and Michelle Andrew’s criticized yourself for those behavior
Ralph has gall!
under your government one man was on 8 boards, some five . Please sit your ass down n choose ur battle wisely.
who bin critized yours? nobody never see it.