Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said it has been brought to his attention that one publication online sought to equate in its headline his receipt of an honorary chieftaincy in Ogun State, Nigeria, with what the NDP was talking about: giving honorary citizenship to Gurifuna from Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua.
While Gonsalves did not name the publication, on November 7, iWitness News carried the headline “Gonsalves receives in Africa honour similar to what he opposes for Garifuna”.
Gonsalves said the writer of the article, as he’s told in the very article itself, said, “Well, it’s really different because the honorary chieftaincy doesn’t carry anything with citizenship, but in the headline, it said it’s similar”.
“I just pointed this out because it’s a species of Cambridge Analytica misinformation. You’ve seen headlines similar; I just want to alert the public. You see it very often in that publication. You see it very often in the news newspaper, I’ve been advised, because I really don’t read the news unless people draw it to my attention.”
Gonsalves said at his age, time is his most important resource, and he really doesn’t have time to waste on a lot of foolishness.
“People draw things to my attention; I’m in the business of politics, and if they draw it to my attention, I would look at it, but I wouldn’t, as a natural course, go and read what people are writing because I’m satisfied in the good sense of Vincentians”, Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves was accorded the chieftaincy title Omowale of Ota, meaning “Our son has come back home”.
