NDP killed petty contract system! Educated fools?-Rajah A Smith
Mr Smith, who came in third in a three man race in the 2015 snap election, has accused the NDP of killing the petty contract system, a programme put in place by the VIP to help local contractors.
NDP killed petty contract- Smith
In a media statement a few days ago, Mr Smith said the NDP “was successful in their quest to kill the petty contract system. However, their alternative method in my opinion creates a dependent people instead of opportunities.”
While he did not elaborate on their new system, he asked “How did we get here?”
Mr Smith also blasted the current Government on the controversial Ports Development Project in which there have been local and international calls for a Commission of Inquiry.
The young businessman said, “as a territory starving for money, where were the voices of the other elected representatives when the overspending on the controversial cruise pier project which, in my opinion, will exceed near $100 million on completion, the reckless and questionable mismanagement and misappropriation of taxpayers money?”
Ports Project corruption?
Both the Virgin Islands’ Auditor General Sonia M. Webster and the House of Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have called on the United Kingdom appointed Governor John S. Duncan OBE to conduct a commission of inquiry. Mr Duncan, to the surprise of many, has refused to do so. Both reports have accused the project handlers of conflict of interest, corruption and that no one was looking out for tax payers’ interest.
An international company president, Hugh E. Darley, of IDEA Inc, who was one of the early persons on the new Ports Development Project, have also corroborated the findings of the two reports and said “in the end tax payers will suffer for the money wasted, stolen, and inferior works on the project.”
The former Second District candidate, who ran with the Opposition VIP and was only was able to get 26 votes, told the public “a lot has happened over the past year but the economy is issue number one. The actions and reckless overspending by some ministers of government have many to wonder if people who are running our territory are “educated fools.”
Mr Smith was referring to the money wasted on the Elmore Stout High School wall, along with the overspending on the Ports Development Project.
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