Luke Boyea has sent a stern warning to the NDP government following the appointment of Luann Hadaway as General Manager of the St Vincent National Lottery.
Boyea on Tuesday, framed the controversy as an urgent test of credibility for the governing New Democratic Party (NDP), drawing sharp parallels to the governance practices of the previous administration.
Responding to listeners who characterized the transition as another “friends and family” appointment reminiscent of the Unity Labour Party (ULP) era, Boyea warned that the electorate voted for structural change, not identical conduct under new faces.
“The NDP are mistaking that the people wanted to get rid of Ralph [Gonsalves] and that style of government,” Boyea said.
“They didn’t want the same style of government just with different faces. They wanted a different style of government. They wanted a merit-based society. They wanted accountability. They wanted transparency. They wanted to be able to say, ‘Yes, this person ticks all the boxes.’ People operate on ethics, morals, merit. This is real joke behavior.”
Boyea called directly on the government to intervene and revoke or review the appointment if it intends to maintain its public image of fiscal responsibility and clean governance.
“The government have to step in and say, ‘this is not acceptable,'” Boyea argued. “I don’t see how any government could put out there that they’re above board, that they are fiscally responsible, and allow this process to just go like that… How is this any different from what the last guys did, who we know looted the lottery?”
Boyea concluded that tacit approval from the highest political levels must have enabled the board’s decision, insisting that the government must address the matter head-on: “If they want to have any credibility, they have to revisit this. But clearly someone has given a tacit okay, and that will come from the top. This is a big deal.”
