Hon Ralph T. O’Neal OBE defends Hon Julian Fraser RA
He was at the time giving a broadcast to the territory on May 14, 2015 which was heard on ZBVI 780 AM. At all of their rallies, the National Democratic Party has been singling out one person for the most part - Honourable Julian Fraser RA - for criticism and mudslinging.
“My successor in the Virgin Islands party is the Honourable Julian Fraser RA. In listening to some broadcasts what is being spread about Julian Fraser is to try and frighten the people that he does not act as if he is a human being,” said Hon O’Neal.
He said that he is not afraid to say that he has worked with Honourable Fraser for many years and he is a man who is prepared to listen, and to discuss a matter and he is prepared to help especially those people who may be in difficulties.
Disrespectful and uncalled for
He made the point that the very people criticizing Honourable Fraser are displaying behavior that is not only disrespectful and uncalled for but also is an affront to the people who elected them.
“Look at the behaviour in the House of Assembly. In my 40 years as a Legislator I have never seen such disrespect and hatred displayed. When I hear the ranting and raving of some of the candidates, I think of the woman who was brought to Jesus for committing acts of Adultery. Jesus asked those who were without sin to cast the first stone. They all left and Jesus said to the woman “Go and Sin No More” he illustrated.
According to Honourable O’Neal, the theme of the elections should be about the country and what could or should be done to help the people in getting a better life.
“But I observe that even during the morning devotions we get the advertisement of some candidates for election.” He said that he has listened to some of the candidates and heard the criticism of other candidates “but I do not think that is necessary and candidates should be telling us what they would like done for the benefit of the country and its people.”
Who left country broke?
Honourable O’Neal addressed the question of who really left the country broke in his speech to the territory. Noting that Premier and Minister of Finance Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith had claimed that the VIP had left the country broke after it left office in November 2011, Honourable O’Neal said that when the VIP took office in 2007 and met a mountain of bills, he went about working to ensure they were paid off and did not seek to publish it in the media.
“Ladies and Gentlemen when the Virgin Islands Party won the election in 2007 and I took over the Government, it was necessary to get funds to continue the work of Government. Therefore it was necessary for me to present a motion to the National Assembly asking for $21 million dollars for the General Fund and $12 million for the Development Fund,” he said.
He noted that this money came from money raised by the Financial Services Commission and paid into the Treasury.
“One of the problems that we met was the amount of debt due to Local Contractors and due to people who were employed by the Tourist Board in the United States, England and Germany. I spent several restless nights making sure that they were paid after many months of working for Government and not receiving any pay. But I did not publish any news of what I found out that so many people had not been paid by the NDP Government when they left office, as I did not think that it was necessary to do that,” said Honourable O’Neal.
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18 Responses to “Hon Ralph T. O’Neal OBE defends Hon Julian Fraser RA”
If you have the commonsense to listen to what the individual is saying, you might benefit. If I were an outsider reading what you wrote, I will think that these people are stupid, clueless.
If you had the decency to listen to what Honorable Oneal is saying, you will see that he is right. The fact that any one party is claiming that the other is solely responsible for the problems is not helpful. It shows that there is no sense of history; even the most recent.
If you are incapable of offering any solution, do the people a favor by saying nothing. IF YOU ARE NOT THE SOLUTION YOU ARE THE PROBLEM!! Do yourself a favor and think about that.
the Tourist Board by using his own money in order to get an Overdraft in order to keep the board in operation.
I agree with R T. How ungrateful and disrespectful some of these, otherwise good people and citizens behave
sometimes; exposing themselves to the world. It seems that when we make ugly and contentious comments
and remarks on these blogs, we are merely shouting at the other person over the fence on the other side and
without knowing that they are exposing themselves to other global citizens. It doesn't matter that we are hiding behind ficticious names; we are branding ourselves in a certain way; not so gracious.