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"It is illegal to build the cross country road and the Unity Labour Party
knows it!" That was the cry sounded by the SVG Green Party at a press conference
on Wednesday, November 23, 2005.
In what he described as "the bombshell," the leader of the political
party said he was informed by one of his "Green Angels" that the ULP
was signing the contract for the road that morning, hence the reason he held the
conference.
He explained that the Electricity Act of number 14 of 1973 specifically prohibited
any development above the Colonarie and Richmond rivers and their tributaries
which made it illegal to construct the proposed cross-country road.
O'Neal accused the ULP of being very dishonest and explained that shortly after
taking office in March 2001 the ULP carried out an internal audit at the electricity
company, Vinlec, which resulted in several senior members of staff being fired.
He said the then Minister of Transport, Works and Housing, Julian Francis "must
have known" that development above the Richmond and Colonarie rivers and
their tributaries was strictly prohibited by law.
The East St.George candidate further stated that the Unity Labour Party was deceitful,
misleading and dishonest to publish the proposed construction of the cross country
road in their manifesto. He declared that the ULP manifesto was not worth the
paper on which it was written.
Answering a question from the media on who Vincentians should vote for in the
other 11 constituencies where there were no candidates for the Green Party, O'Neal
answered that the electorate must choose the candidate that presented the issues.
The leader pointed out that there were other persons who expressed interest in
joining the party but backed out after what he described as intimidation and being
bought out.
The retired economist, who has a master's degree in budget planning, pointed out
that under the past governments we were big borrowers, spenders and beggars; our
national debt increased instead of our wealth.
He proposed ideas like setting up a big water plant so that other countries which
do not have rivers could buy water from St.Vincent and the Grenadines. O'Neal
noted that water was more expensive than oil and this country needed to capitalise
on that natural resource. The former military commander who worked with the richest
man in the world, Sultan of Brunei, also heavily criticised the government's operation
of the National Properties Ltd and said for that reason alone he would encourage
Vincentians to instead vote the NDP to keep the ULP out of office.
General Secretary, Ordan Graham however noted that while the Green Party would
not align itself to any party, they would give support to whoever was voted into
office and would refrain from gutter politics. He stressed that he had not "received
a red cent from Red China" and elaborated that he was ready to say where
the party got its funding from if the other two political parties declared where
they got their finance.
The Green Party also presented their 43-page manifesto at the event held at the
Scout Headquarters.
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