KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Wednesday, dismissed as “political rant” statements made by a junior Trinidad and Tobago government minister that his wife and two children had been given preferential treatment in obtaining government-subsidised housing in the twin-island republic.
“Everybody knows that he is carrying a can for the opposition here in St. Vincent. That’s the reason for his broadcast, his podcast or whatever you may call it,” Gonsalves said, noting that the allegation made by the minister in the Ministry of Housing in Trinidad, Anil Roberts, is that his wife and children “had benefitted from a kind of insider trading in purchasing apartments in a development in Trinidad.
“He made several misrepresentations and falsehoods, and he drew certain conclusions and presented many innuendoes which touch and concern the issue of damaging people’s character and defamation generally,” Gonsalves said during a 30-minute segment on his weekly radio programme in which he dealt with the issue, referring to his wife and children as three citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.
On Tuesday, Roberts acknowledged in his broadcast that Eloise Gonsalves and her children, Storm and Soleil Gonsalves, had been allocated the apartments, even as over 200,000 residents of the twin-island republic are on a waiting list.
Roberts said the acquisition was uncovered through inquiries he made after Prime Minister Gonsalves had been critical of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s position on declaring the Caribbean a zone of peace.
“The honourable prime minister has waged a war and attack on our prime minister, Kamla Persad Bissessar, and I couldn’t understand why he was being so undiplomatic, inappropriate and strong to say that she’s un-stateswoman-like and she’s misguided,” Roberts said, later telling reporters that Gonsalves was “coming down partisan sort of approach and delving into the politics of a sovereign nation.
Roberts raised many issues regarding the purchase of the properties, including questions about a declaration signed by Storm Gonsalves.
“And to sign a false declaration in Trinidad and Tobago is a criminal offence. He said that from his app tech company, he makes 25,000 a month. The policy at the HDC (Housing Development Corporation) in Trinidad and Tobago is that once you make one cent over $25,000 TT per month, you do not qualify.
“So, further investigation by the police is needed in certain matters. Then, thirdly, a student, a child, working basically nowhere, gets an allocation of a house paid for by her mom, dad, and brother, while other citizens of this country are struggling and screaming for scarce resources? It is wrong in 100 different ways,” he added.
But in his radio response, Prime Minister Gonsalves said that he was never critical of Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar’s position on the region being declared a zone of peace, saying “I did not disrespect Kamla, I disagreed with her and I used the gentle formulation … a sort of characterisation of the region that Caribbean and Latin America was misguided.
“In 2014, she signed on to the Havana Declaration, the bilateral meeting between our region, CARICOM, and Cuba. In 2014, the designation of the Caribbean and Latin America as a zone of peace was established. She is a member of CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), and the meetings she attended with CELAC were also in the Declaration, which she agreed to.
‘Well her position clearly has shifted and you can move your position and I don’t have a quarrel when you shift your position, but it is open to me reasonably to say that that is not a correct position, because there are 14 countries in CARICOM (Caribbean Community), 13 of us currently say that the Caribbean and Latin America is a zone of peace, she does not accept that characterisation anymore and I thought she was misguided in that regard.
‘That is the most gentle of disagreements, but of course, in Mr. Roberts’ mind, it is gross disrespect and so on.
Persad-Bissessar’s shift in position has, in the past few weeks, coincided with the United States military build-up off the coast of Venezuela under the guise of eradicating the illegal drugs trade.
Washington has sent several warships, including the world’s largest carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, in what political observers say is an attempt at regime change in Caracas, where President Nicolas Maduro has been in power.
The Americans have killed several people, including two Trinidad and Tobago nationals, in strikes on what it termed illegal vessels carrying drugs in international waters, and Persad Bissessar is on record as saying that those in the illicit drug trade should be “killed violently”.
Regarding the purchase of the properties in Trinidad and Tobago, Gonsalves said, “I never spoke to anybody in the government of Trinidad and Tobago or sought to influence anybody in the government, state administration, or otherwise to accord preferential treatment to these three citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.
‘They have done nothing illegal, nothing which is immoral, nothing which is unethical. It doesn’t reach any of those levels. Nowhere at all, plain, straightforward transactions”.
He told the audience that the apartments in the west of Trinidad and Tobago are “in a gated community, and are not regular state-provided housing in Trinidad.
“In fact, the monies made from Victoria Keyes by HDC are used to help low-income housing. That is the policy of successive governments as I understand it in Trinidad,” Gonsalves said, outlining the procedures his wife and children had undertaken in acquiring the properties.
Gonsalves, an attorney, said apart from the “defamatory issues…on this broadcast by Mr. Roberts and by his clear imputation that I personally and Eloise and Storm and Soleil did something, unethical, illegal, maybe even corrupt, which is completely false, that I interfaced with the PNM (People’s National Movement) leadership to get benefit, absolutely not”.
He said any approach to the then-prime minister, Dr. Keith Rowley, for assistance and purchasing the apartments would have been dismissed out of hand.
Gonsalves said that if Robert’s outburst is linked to assisting the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP)in the November 27 general election, it would backfire, predicting that his ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) would be returned with a greater margin than five years ago, when it won nine of the 15 seats at stake.
“Vincentians are appalled by this kind of behaviour by Anil Roberts…and they will punish the NDP at the polls because if somebody was inclined not to vote for this or that reason, they will say no no no, we don’t want our country to descend into this, we have had 25 years of political stability under Ralph,” said Gonsalves, who is seeking an unprecedented sixth consecutive term as head of government.
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