ST VINCENT-Opposition Leader says PM’s statements in Trinidad ‘brought shame’ on St Vincent.

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC – Opposition Leader Godwin Friday has criticized Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves for comments he made last week at the CARICOM symposium on crime in Trinidad.

Gonsalves told the gathering of CARICOM heads of government, academics, and judicial officers that some young males murder to support the lifestyle of beautiful, “high maintenance” women.

Friday, speaking on his weekly appearance on his New Democratic Party’s News-Times on NICE Radio, expressed disbelief at the Prime Minister’s statement, saying he had embarrassed the country.

“All over the region, that comment has been condemned…. It has disgraced us here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. People look at us and wonder if this is real; this is what passes for leadership in this country,” he said.

“And then goes on to blame judges who allow lawyers, he says, to run the court system under the guise of protecting the rights of the accused, blaming magistrates,” the opposition leader added, referring to another of Gonsalves’ statements at the symposium.

“And of all things, blaming preachers and churches for saying that they’re trying to frighten people rather than preaching in a way that can reach him, and if they can’t reach him, they can’t reach the criminals. But who’s to say how he could know that? He knows the heart of every person?”

Friday said he was surprised that the churches “have not responded more vigorously to this, what is essentially a diminishing of their role and criticizing them unjustifiedly.”

The opposition leader said crime is multifaceted, adding that the prime minister appeared to blame everyone except the government for the crime.

“…. Everybody else — the young men themselves, they’re selfish, they’re greedy, it is as though they are a product of themselves… nothing helped shape or form them. They just decided to be that way,” he said. “If that is the case, where are we?”

“That can’t be the message,” Friday said. “It can’t be the message that we send to this nation. The government must provide leadership, and they’re not doing so.”