NDP Road Cleaning Process: A Disgrace
A lot can be changed in a very short period of time for the negative. I still cannot believe my eyes and ears when I heard the announcement that, in order to become a trucker or a labourer on the road cleaning programme for BRAGSA later in August, you have to register at the NDP constituency office in your constituency.
Under the former ULP administration, the process was different. The BRAGSA lead would obtain from the BRAGSA community personnel the names of the team leaders, and those team leaders would then mobilise the workers within their communities.
Anyone reading this article should know that, under the former administration, persons of all political persuasions were selected. This was done without political intervention in the selection of labourers for road cleaning. In fact, in some villages that heavily supported the opposition, the road cleaning workers often outnumbered persons who traditionally supported the government.
Have you ever seen any line at the ULP headquarters or at party offices in South Windward, South Central Windward, North Windward, or any other constituency where NDP supporters had to subject themselves to going to a ULP constituency office to put down their names in order to obtain a road cleaning contract?
I would like to suggest to the NDP team that when you do things like this, it only ends up helping the Opposition. So, it’s actually a plus for the ULP. You might not realize it, but even your own supporters are saying this isn’t right. It’s not too late for common sense to kick in. Please just use a public building in each area for the registration process.
People are telling their neighbours that we’re back in the dark ages of Public Works, when ministers would drive around telling workers who didn’t support their party to “put down the Government shovel.”
It begs the question, if this can be done in broad daylight, then do you think anyone who did not support the NDP will be up for a housing award, like how the ULP did it, when every person applying would get assistance regardless of political affiliation? The backlash that this foolish process will have in communities will detach the base from the head leadership of the NDP.
Again, Vincentians are watching, and the mistakes continue.
