9th January 2007
Hon. Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves
Prime Minister’s Office
Kingstown
St. Vincent

Dear Prime Minister Gonsalves,

I have read your 2007 Budget Address (dated December 11th 2007  ?). The information given on public debt on page 45 is a deliberate act on your part of deceiving and misleading Parliament and the people of SVG. Please refer to Table 1. We are told that the increase in public debt for 2006 was EC$ 99.9 million. However, the breakdown the Minister of Finance gives (page 45) shown below adds up to

TABLE 1

Source: 2007 Budget Address, page 45.

more than EC$ 109.4 million dollars. No figure is given for the additional disbursements on the World Bank Emergency Recovery Management Project. The increase in public debt has been understated by at least EC$ 9.5 million. The Minister of Finance is misleading parliament and the public in the 2007 SVG Budget Address.

As the public debt increase for 2006 was understated by at least EC$ 9.4 million, clearly the figure for debt to GDP ratio has been understated too. The IMF has indicated that the debt to GDP ratio of 85% was too high. In the light of SVG Green Party’s discovery, we would like parliament to tell the nation what the true figures for public debt in 2006 and debt to GDP ratio are. From the scant amount of information provided in the 2007 Budget Address by the Minister of Finance we can see that the real minimum public debt to GDP ratio is 85.3%.

Similarly, the information given on page 48, is a deliberate act on your part of deceiving and misleading Parliament and the people of SVG. Please refer to Table 2.

The source of funds percentages for the 2007 SVG Capital Budget do not add up to 100% as stated. Somewhere in the composition of the source of funds for the Capital Budget, the ULP regime is pulling figures out of the air to mislead parliament and fool the people of the country. Page 48 of the Prime Minister’s 2007 Budget Address about sources of funds clearly does not add up. The Capital Budget overshoots by EC$ 359,000.

You and your government also deliberately presented incorrect figures about the economy in the 2007 Budget Address to parliament and the nation. This behaviour is disrespectful to the people of SVG. It is deliberate dishonesty and untrustworthiness. We cannot trust you and your ULP government to honestly manage the affairs of SVG.

TABLE 2

Source: 2007 Budget Address, page 48.

You and your government cannot and should not continue. You have wilfully misled and lied to the nation about the state of the economy. You and your government have wilfully betrayed the trust invested in you by the people at the last General Election with your deliberate dishonest and deceiving activities. The 2007 Budget Address was passed by the Cabinet. It is only right and proper that you and your government apologise to the nation and resign.

We are a democratic country. SVG Green Party considers the problems in the 2007 Budget Address very serious. SVG Green Party requests the recall of Parliament on a special sitting in January 2007, to rectify the issues within the 2007 Budget Address that we have raised.  The essence of democracy is open and honest government and you and your government have betrayed this by your actions. These matters are not hearsay. They are documented in writing in the 2007 Budget Address.

SVG Green Party has discovered that the ULP regime lied to the people of this country about the true state of the economy during the election of December 2005. They owed VINLEC over EC$ 21 million in debts and never disclosed this. And more seriously, they covered up their debt with VINLEC in the VINLEC accounts Year Ended December 31, 2004, which were published in July 2005. No notes were given in the accounts for the figure of EC$ 21,678,306, which corresponded to debts and prepayments. We have to assume that, in the absence of notes to the accounts, the EC$ 21,678,306 is owed to VINLEC by the ULP government.

Signed………………………….
Ivan O’Neal BSc(Hons), MSc, MBA, Leader and Co-founder of SVG Green Party

cc:           His Excellency the Governor General        Hon. Leader of the NDP
                Secretary General of CARICOM            Secretary General of OAS
                British Ambassador to Barbados        President of SVG Bar Association
                President of SVG Christian Council   President of National Youth Council
President of SVG Chamber of Commerce and Industry Media