By Staff Writer
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, Nov 20, CMC – St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, has accused financiers of the ruling United National Congress (UNC) in Trinidad and Tobago of financing the campaign of the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) ahead of the November 27 general elections.
Gonsalves, speaking at a rally of his Unity Labour Party (ULP), said that “some of the major differences” between his party, which is seeking an unprecedented sixth consecutive term in office, and the NDP are that the opposition party “is financed by a set of people from overseas.
“The latest set are the financiers from the ruling UNC party in Trinidad. They have on the ground now activists supporting the NDP, and all their attempts to scare me and my family have been unsuccessful,” Gonsalves said.
“The money men, many of the money men behind the UNC have an interest in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and they are prepared to send operatives here, and I want to tell you, as I speak, operatives for the UNC in Trinidad have come here and they are here right now as I speak. Don’t be surprised if you see one or two foreign faces.”
Gonsalves told supporters that over the last five years, the economy of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has been the fastest-growing economy in the Caribbean, after Guyana, and that the “UNC financiers know that the economy in Trinidad and Tobago is tanking, and they want to get some sweetheart deals.
“And the sweetheart deals involve wanting to get the land where the port is, the old port in Kingstown, where we are developing a modern cruise ship pier to take two additional cruise ships, large cruise ships, and to put proper land facilities. They want that land,” he said, adding, “the UNC financiers also want the land at ET Joshua airport, the old airport.
“We have 175 acres of land there and they want that land for a song, whereas we are on the way to build a modern city with wellness, health, and wellness.”
Gonsalves told supporters that his administration has plans for the area with an EC$300 million (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) hospital, a first-world cricket facility, as well as plans to expand the netball facility.
“We we are going to lease and sell the land after we have prepared everything properly,” he said, adding that his Minister of Urban Development, Benarva Browne, “who has done such a wonderful job…will be accordingly specific responsibility for the development, the urban development on the east side and the west side of Kingstown and Arnos Vale, including a tunnel under Cane Garden Point.
“These are large ideas to take us, among other things, to the 21st century,” he said, questioning the appearance of the UNC financiers here.
He said their presence is aimed at “toppling this government and having the NDP in office.
“The matter is simply greed, money, land, and property,” He said, noting that the NDP has said publicly it wants to privatise the new port.
Gonsalves said as a result the UNC financiers “want to come and own the port, well, the only way you can stop that is to mobilise from now until election day, and they also want the land where we moved the old port from, but we have a development plan.
“They want that land in a sweet heart deal for themselves,” Gonsalves said, adding that it is interesting to note that since the old airport was closed in 2017, “we have not sold one square inch of that government land to anybody.
‘A lot of business people want to have land, and we told them we can’t sell them land because we are developing a city in accordance with a particular plan. But the Trinis and some local business people, they know who I am talking about, they want to want to get that land..(and) they don’t matter how it looks…they are interested in themselves, not the country”.
The accusation by Gonsalves is the latest outburst between Kingstown and Port of Spain that had been sparked by the accusation made by a junior government minister, who later received the support of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar that questioned the manner in which three members of Gonsalves’ family, including his wife, had been able to acquire houses from the state owned Housing Development Corporation (HDC) that were sold on the open market.
Minister in the Ministry of Housing, Anil Roberts, questioned some of the documents used in the sale, suggesting also that the matter would be referred to the police.
But Gonsalves, an attorney, said his relatives, all of whom are Trinidad and Tobago citizens, followed the process in applying for the HDC units, and there were no special favours or sweetheart deals, and he has since indicated that he has referred the matter to a senior counsel in Trinidad and Tobago.
The HDC chairman, Feeroz Khan, is reported in the media in Trinidad and Tobago as saying that the state entity has launched an investigation into how three family members obtained Victoria Keyes apartments in Diego Martin, west of the capital..
Khan is reported as saying that the probe will examine issues in the paperwork for the applications for the three apartments that Roberts said cost nearly five million TT dollars (One TT dollar=US$016 cents).
Khan said an internal investigation was launched by the HDC last week and that legitimate questions have been raised, and the board will await information before taking any further steps.
CMC/kc/ir/2025