Opposition leader and former prime minister Ralph Gonsalves has unleashed a sharp criticism of the New Democratic Party (NDP) government, describing st. Vincent as being in the grasp of a severe “crisis of governance” which is caused by a government that operates on “autopilot”
In this broadcast, gonsalves created a bleak picture of where the country currently finds itself, stating that the NDP administration has not addressed all national issues of complexity. “someone tell me the place is ungoverned,” gonsalves said; he also said they are running “like it’s on autopilot.”
He also claimed that the current leaders have no idea about how much damage they have caused in such a short timeframe and “have no idea as to the way forward.”
According to Gonsalves, this crisis of governance has infected every level of society including politics, economy, and society at large. He accused the NDP of having a debilitating mixture of incapacity, “malignancy,” and failure to create jobs or effectively enact viable investment programs.
Gonsalves said that the NDP government is highly reactive and out of touch with the problems of the working class. He also mentioned that citizens today are living in an atmosphere of fear and are forced to choose between buying food or paying their basic utility bills.
Despite the continuous increase in cost of living, Gonsalves says that the NDP is actually reducing the number of people who receive public assistance and shrinking the social safety net for vulnerable groups children, women, and seniors.
Gonsalves strongly condemded the NDP’s urban intelligentsia for harboring “debilitating petty bourgeois values” and look down upon the poor.
The former prime minister also explained serious breakdowns in administrative procedure within the government infrastructure. Gonsalves blamed the NDP for seeking to bypass permanent secretaries who hold legal authority to approve purchases by improperly directing subordinate executive secretaries to order computers and furniture without adhering to the required tender procedure.
Furthermore, the Opposition leader claimed the NDP administration is enforcing political loyalty over lawful governance. He reported that high-ranking NDP officials and their supporters have been threatening and intimidating public servants, teachers, nurses and police officers.
According to Gonsalves, the administration is pushing a “cock and bull story” that public servants owe their loyalty to the Friday administration reminding them that their true loyalty belongs to the Constitution and the people and warning them not to carry out any illegal orders from the political machine.
And finally, he condemned the administration’s style of making policy. According to Gonsalves, whenever the NDP encounters a difficult situation, they apply a political filter to provide a clear solution — but wrong.
Summarizing the state of government under the NDP, Gonsalves suggested that the NDP leadership is entirely disconnected and does not possess a cohesive vision. “When they go to office and morning times, they do not know what to do,” he commentated — describing their recent actions as a desperate flurry of announcements to throw smoke in the eyes of the general public.
Gonsalves warned that if there will not be a vision then people will perish; he expressed great depression over the setback’s St Vincent is experiencing under the rule of the NDP.