UNEP holds discussion with GG on “matters of state”

By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

(L-R) UNEP’s Public Relations Officer Walford Arthurton, Leader of the party Dr. Henry Browne and Assistant Secretary John Dore

Dr. Browne spoke exclusively with SKNVibes following the meeting and, while he informed it was not his place to reveal the exact nature of the discussions held with His Excellency, he said welfare of the country took priority.

“We had long and careful discussions with His Excellency the Governor General but as you would appreciate, as a matter of protocol - domestic and international – we cannot say to you what the discussions were about. What I can say to you is that the discussions were about the true welfare; the selfless welfare of the country.”

Further explanation by Dr. Browne revealed that the need for that meeting arose after UNEP’s Public Relations Officer Walford Arthurton “raised issues with the Governor General in my absence, and I thought that they were sufficiently important that I myself go there after he asked me to”.

Having discussed the affairs with His Excellency, whom he described as being “graceful, erudite [and] very diplomatic”, Dr. Browne said the ball now rests in the Governor General’s court as “it is in his bailiwick to determine what he should do”.

The next step for the UNEP, as outlined by its leader, is “to wait and see what the government does and what His Excellency the Governor General does. We are giving them fair opportunity to run and govern the country in peace and tranquillity and with a measure of understanding that the government has to go back to the drawing board, given the financial state of the country, to determine how people are going to live within the economy which subsists...After a period of time, we would monitor the situation and, if necessary, take another step.   ~~Adz:Right~~

While he did not reveal the substance of the meeting with the Head of State, Dr. Browne made reference to three issues which the UNEP holds as paramount, chief of which is that of the safety of the country.

“The auspices, as they stand in the country in relation and crime and the economy, are not good but I do not believe that we should be pessimistic. What we have to do is to draw back and understand and appreciate what are the real problems in the country. The real foremost problem in the country has to do with crime and the sacred duty of any government to keep its citizens safe. If a government cannot keep its citizens safe, then that government should really not be government. The second layer of priority would be health, because if you’re not healthy you cannot assist the government in keeping the country safe. The third layer is education, which would inform the two priorities outlined above.”

Circumscribed to only one, the UNEP’s leader informed of the organisation’s goal for the country – keeping the country safe – a task which he claimed he could accomplish.

“Our goals are not many. Our goals, as UNEP, are delimited to one - keeping the country safe - and it seems to me that I am the best man to keep the country safe with the assistance of my colleagues. Without safety in the country, nothing would be established. I would leave it to the Governor General to say anything else he wishes to say.”