BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – POLITICAL leader of the People’s Action Movement (PAM), Lindsay Grant said the pictures painted by the Labour government during the 2010 election campaign are all lies, and the nation needs a new beginning.
Grant made these pronouncements, among many others, during a press conference at the Ocean Terrace Inn on Monday (Nov. 1) to voice his party’s views to the nation on the implementation of the new tax system – Value Added TAX (VAT).
“Do not allow your partisan political beliefs to prevent you from accepting that St. Kitts and Nevis is broke. It is now clear that the picture that was painted by the Labour government during the election campaign in January was nothing but a lie.
“Labour told you that the economy was working…they lied. They told you that tourism was working…they lied. The government said that health, education and agriculture were working…they lied. When we examine the poor conditions of the police stations, hospitals, clinics, prisons, roads, parks, beaches and schools, it would become clear that this country of our has been hurting all along,” Grant said.
Grant also stated that under the Labour administration there are regular power outages, recurring water problems and the absence of important drugs in the hospitals which threaten the lives of those critically in need of them.
“Then we recognise that since the last elections, government has already laid off over 500 workers. It should be clear that not only is it hurting, but we need a new beginning,” he added.
He noted that many civil servants who have attained the age of 55 “have just started paying on a mortgage for their homes or have just sent their children off to university, but are now told that they have to leave the service”.
The opposition party’s leader singled out Reed Data Service in an effort to justify his argument, noting it had played a significant role in the Federation for over 20 years but would be leaving in December, never to return.
Comparing the economic performance of the Port Authority under the two administrations, Grant said it was such a cash cow that it regularly paid bills on behalf of the then PAM administration, because it had excess cash; but under the current administration “that very Port Authority finds itself in a debt of over $160M”.
“It is unfortunate and sad that while some of our people in January were shouting ‘It is working’, the Labour Party government was secretly planning behind their backs to fire them in a few months time.
Today, in November, some of those same people who were terminated by government have now changed their tune from ‘It is working’ to ‘It is hurting’. We empathise with them and hope that they will soon find employment to care for their families,” he added.
VAT was officially implemented in the Federation on Monday (Nov. 1) after it was announced by Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas during his 2010 Budget Address on March 23, 2010.
