The ULP regime has built up a debt of 6 million at Kingstown Town Board, yet Kingstown remains one of the dirtiest cities in the Caribbean.

In a public statement on Friday 28th March 2008, Minister Mike Brown said the ULP government is taking over the 6 million dollar debt of Kingstown Town Board, downsizing the staff and increasing rates at the cemetery. It has taken the highly incompetent and sloppy ULP regime 7 years to realise that labour-intensive operations at Kingstown Town Board is throwing taxpayers’ money into the gutter.

When the ULP regime took office in 2001, they increased the number of employees at the Kingstown Town Board to provide employment for their political supporters. Minister Mike Brown was a member of the ULP cabinet that increased the number of staff at the Kingstown Town Board. The ULP regime should have known or must have known that padding out the staff numbers would lead to a sizeable debt at the Kingstown Town Board. It is totally unacceptable for Minister Mike Browne to expect Vincentian taxpayers to pick up the 6 million dollar debt.

A debt of 6 million dollars is a huge amount of money. The minister does not have the power to take over the 6 million debt and change the debt to a loan without an inquiry or an external audit. The financial problems at Kingstown Town Board should be referred to the Director of Audit, who is the independent auditor of the government acting on behalf of the taxpayer under section 75, subsection 2 of the Constitution of SVG (also Cap 2 Laws of SVG) and the Finance and Audit Act Cap 182.

SVG Green Party is putting Minister Mike Brown on public notice to hand over Kingstown Town Board’s Financial Statement to the Director of Audit for examination and recommendation. SVG is not a banana republic and the ULP regime cannot overrule the Director of Audit as it is a constitutional appointment.

The Director of Audit, SVG Green Party and the Vincentian public want to know why the debt was allowed to climb to such a high figure and over what time frame. More importantly, what steps were taken by the incompetent ULP regime between 2001 and March 2008 to stop the problems that perpetuated the debt.

This whole affair is yet another example of ULP regime economic incompetence and their habit of being wreckless with taxpayers’ money. How many poor familes could have been helped with this 6 million dollars? How many children could have had school fees paid for and school uniforms bought? The SVG economy is weak and taxpayers’ money should be used wisely to provide the best for Vincentian citizens. The ULP regime must not be allowed to run SVG in the future like a dysfunctional marby shop. It is a shocking waste of our country’s revenue.

The SVG Green Party makes a strong and justified call for Minister Mike Brown to resign.