In political circles, it is normally said that, character is not about telling people what they want to hear, but about telling people what they need to know, it is about having the courage to set your vision and stick to it, without being blown off course even when the going gets tough and the tough gets going.

This 20 month old NDC administration led by Prime Minister the Hon. Tillman Thomas can be proud of one thing and that is “character”.

The assertions made by MP for the Constituency of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, Hon. Elvin Nimrod in the media recently, to the effect that NDC brought “dirty water to Carriacou” are not only a blatant lie but is a downright expression of arrogance and total contempt for the people.

I also wish to advise the Hon. MP that the people of Carriacou and Petite Martinique continue to view his participation in the Parliament and the public at large as shameful and a total waste of taxpayers’ dollars.

In his most recent presentation to the House of Representatives he spoke about the payment of $600.00 for the use of the BBH Community Centre, that is a lie, he also said that Dr. Peters remarked that the Carriacou Development Corporation / Marina Project will get no more land over his dead body, that is another lie and his most recent that the people of Carriacou & Petite Martinique are falling ill because of dirty water brought to Carriacou & Petite Martinique, yet another lie.

I think the time has come for introducing legislation to deal with politicians who continues to lie to the public or Parliament, in the course of political duties.

After all, I personally do not expect anything better from the MP, because as is also said, your character, is essentially the sum total of all your habits.

MP Nimrod has once again disrespected and offended the efforts of those he claims he represents in the Parliament. It is no secret that this present drought is the worst of its kind in decades and to contend that the NDC Government is bringing dirty water to the people of Carriacou & Petite Martinique may well be what his Party and Party supporter wants to hear but as already indicated above, character is about telling people what they need to know.

He should be telling us about the three (3) desalination plants, that his government purchased costing the government millions of dollars, one for Carriacou, one for Petite Martinique and one at Woburn, none of which is working; If he has provided effective representation he would have ensured that the plants in Carriacou & Petite Martinique were working and being able to provide water to us in this period of drought. He should also be telling us about the twenty (20) government’s cisterns and tanks which were allowed to fall into dis-repair, the twenty (20) wells and twenty-four (24) ponds that were never cleaned during the NNP 13 year reign. In case he is un-aware, on page 35 of the 2008 NDC Manifesto, we have indicated that we would invest in ponds and wells rehabilitation to assist our farmers. To date we have rehabilitated or cleaned five (5) ponds, eight (8) well and six (6) cisterns/tanks.

Not only was the water infrastructure allowed to deteriorate over the years, the entire economic infrastructure was allowed to deteriorate. The sewerage disposal system in Carriacou & Petite Martinique continues to remain ancient and out dated. The solid waste disposal system was allowed to degenerate that the orders of the day for residents in nearby communities are the foul stench and flies nuisances which are associated with the disposal site. While they may have been occasional rehabilitation of roads, the road transportation network continues to be poor, particularly on the routes Belvedere to Top Hill, Mt. Pleasant to Dover, Hillsborough to Mt. Desire, and Six Roads to Belle Vue South. It is to be further noted and the Honourable MP should tell the people that the last time the Airport was rehabilitated was in 1994 under the first NDC Administration. This rehabilitation involved resurfacing and extension of the runway to 800M, construction of a new taxi way and parking apron and instillation of an emergency lighting system. As I write the Lauriston Airport is in badly need of repairs, both to the terminal building and the runway as is expected after sixteen years.

The Hon. MP is reminded that representation is temporary, but character will last forever and so representation on one hand and arrogance and contempt for the ordinary people is not one and the same thing. The time has come to choose which one he wishes to pursue.

The enemies of the NDC are unemployment, backwardness, arrogance, contempt for people and poverty, therefore let us all join together to make Carriacou and Petite Martinique a better place to live even in our prolong period of drought.


Senator the Hon. George Prime