Eustace must be more careful

Fri, Apr 13. 2012

Editor: It seems to me that opposition parties in the Caribbean and wider afield criticize governments’ actions for the sake of opposition without any justification whatsoever. In other words they oppose because they are in the opposition.{{more}}

It is not different in St Vincent and the Grenadines. As matter of fact, it is even worse in the multi island state because the Opposition leader, Arnhim Eustace, at instances acts irrationally and makes unfortunate statements.

I was shocked when I read that Eustace, a man who holds a Master’s degree in Economics and served 14 years as a parliamentarian, including five months as Prime Minister, could have made criticized Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves for taking action against the police officer who assaulted, and handcuffed the country’s United Nations Permanent Representative, Camillo Gonsalves.

Eustace made a silly and unfortunate statement when he said that “moneys paid on legal fees could be used in other ways”. How can a Vincentian who is the opposition leader not want the government to correct the wrongful and perhaps racial acts by a white police officer, while commentators and Caricom diplomatic community in the United States condemn the attack.

I do not see how Eustace can be justified to speak of funds to take action since there are no financial implications, and as a matter of fact I, as a New York licensed attorney, have volunteered to assist if there will be legal proceedings, but it seems as if the Government will not take that route since the Prime Minister told a news conference that he does not intend to move against the US government, since it was a wrongful act by a member of the New York Police Department.

The Opposition Leader should be more careful in his utterances. He represents more than 45% of the electorate, and I am certain that most of the NDP supporters do not agree with his “non support” statement. Gonsalves is in New York representing the entire Vincentian community at the United Nations, and it was no fault of his why he was manhandled and assaulted by the cop.

Eustace was appointed Prime Minister in October 2000 when

Sir James Mitchell resigned and handed over leadership to him, but he lost the top post early 2001 when the NDP lost the government and the brilliant economist failed on three occasions for his party to regain power. In baseball, the top US sport – three strikes and you are out, but Eustace is still there as leader of his party, and according to reports, the founder of the party, is not too happy with the performance of his successor.

Oscar Ramjeet