BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - "If the government wants the opposition to deal with the national debt then they should get out!"
So said the newly-elected Leader of the People's Action Movement (PAM) and Parliamentary Representative for Constituency Five, the Hon. Shawn Richards, in response to Hon. Marcella Liburd's challenge to the opposition to show their plans to reduce the national debt or stop criticising the government's efforts.
In an interview today (Nov. 6), Richards said if the government wants the opposition to do their job they should step down and let the opposition take over.
He further stated that even their own members spoke out against the Land Bill, noting that they suggested alternatives but they were not considered.
"First of all, it seems as though Marcella Liburd wants the opposition to do the job of the government. If that is the case, then the government ought to resign and let the opposition take their place in government.
"Secondly, one or perhaps two of her very own Cabinet colleagues spoke out about the land issue in the persons of the Deputy Prime Minister and Senior Minister Timothy Harris who is also the former Minister of Finance and Lands.
"They too indicated that they take issue with the Land Bill and would have presented alternatives to the Cabinet. I don't hear Marcella indicating to the public that these two persons have offered solutions. Did the Cabinet consider the solutions that they gave? And if so, why were they not put in place?" he explained.
Richards went on to give examples of efforts PAM made in the past to warn the government of what would happen to the national debt if certain measures were not taken, but they were shunned.
"When the People's Action Movement indicated to the government several years ago that the debt is unsustainable, the response from the Prime Minister back then was 'public debt me a%#', instead of taking account of the situation and putting in place measures to deal with the high debt.
"We spoke to them about the investment in La Valley and said to them that it was not making any sense and they still pursued it. We indicated very early that we were going to close the sugar industry because the debt is unsustainable. It is the very same Labour Party that Marcella is a part of and Prime Minister Douglas in particular who stood up on a political platform in Old Road and said the sugar industry will only close over his dead body, and so in terms of the operation of that industrial high debt being incurred it still continued."
Richards said that PAM further warned the government to discontinue the awarding of high no bid contracts to service providers in the Federation which they also ignored.
The PAM Leader also spoke about the opposition's efforts to caution the government about the two prototype generators that the government obtained, which he said were not in the best interest of the country. He said the government still procured them, which led to inefficiencies and numerous costs being incurred in terms of providing electricity in this country.
He said PAM further told the government that they should not increase the civil service, but instead allow the private sector to be the engine of growth in the country, but again they were not listened to. "So when Marcella is saying that the opposition is not giving any alternative or any strategies, the opposition was warning the government since several years ago as to what is going to happen if they continue along this route."
"So, today when the land is being swapped for debt is because of the fact that the government was not listening," he added.
Richards said that the PAM has plans as to how the national debt could be reduced, but noted that they would not be turning them over to the government.
"We have plans in terms of reducing the debt, but why should we give our plans to Marcella and Denzil Douglas? They are the ones in government...they have never taken the opposition seriously. Had they taken the opposition seriously, we would not have been in the position where we are today. If they want the opposition to deal with the debt then get out of government," he emphasised.
He went on to state that the government has not made any effort to seek the viewpoint of the opposition with respect to the national debt, stressing that if they [government] were actually serious about gaining assistance from the opposition they would not have rushed the Bill in Parliament.
"They have not consulted the opposition at no point in time for any alternative to deal with this debt situation. As a matter of fact, if the government was serious about alternative solutions rather than the land swap, instead of rushing this Bill through Parliament in one sitting and only giving persons the information on the day of that sitting, they would have consulted with opposition as to other possible ways of going about dealing with the debt at National Bank."
Richards stressed that the Hon. Denzil Douglas-led administration should resign from government if they want PAM to offer up alternatives to the land for debt swap or provide solutions as to how they could reduce national debt.
