Shouldn’t Mr. Eustace have known the value of the Ottley Hall Project before he signed?

08.Jan.10

Editor: Reflection: the scarcest commodity on mainland St. Vincent. Whenever it comes into play it is as short as a nun’s kiss.

Now – chew upon these questions: When was the Mitchell New Democratic Party (NDP) sued by the German bank in London (West LB) for defaulting on payment for the Ottley Hall Shipyard and Marina project? Did the Mitchell NDP Government put in an appearance at the hearing?{{more}} How many years after the hearing in London was the former fiscal adviser (Mr. Arnhim Eustace) to the NDP Government elected to Parliament? When was Mr. Eustace appointed to the post of Minister of Finance by Prime Minister Mitchell to replace himself (PM Mitchell)? When was Minister of Finance Mr. Eustace whisked off to London (NOT TO SEE THE QUEEN) to affix a signature to pay what the German bank West LB claimed that the NDP Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines owed? Shouldn’t the Minister of Finance (Mr. Eustace) have known the value of the Ottley Hall Project before he signed?

Reflections demand answers. To say that we were ‘ripped-off’ is very touching. But, was it true?

Reflections demand that Vincentians on mainland St. Vincent seriously review the course of events starting with when the Mitchell NDP Government was sued by West LB. Mr. Eustace’s election to Parliament in 1998, Mr. Eustace’s appointment to the portfolio of Minister of Finance by PM Mitchell, and when Minister of Finance Eustace whisked off to London to sign the scandalous Ottley Hall debt agreement.

When was Mr. Eustace elevated to the status of Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and political leader of the NDP begs the question: Was quid pro quo (you do this and I do this) accomplished?

Incidentally, the single and only time in this country’s history when the political head was not the Minister of Finance was from 1972 to 1974, when the unholy Junta government of Joshua’s People’s Political Party (PPP) with six of a seven-seat government with independent Mr. Mitchell as Premier and Mr. Joshua as Minister of Finance; a portfolio which he (Mr. Joshua) frequently described as the MINISTER OF FINE-ANTS. Self-explanatory to say the very least.

S. M. Quammie