The “new” NDP is like a leopard trying to change his spots- Premier
“Now these people are turning to you and calling themselves new. I suppose pastor Cline Claude and attorney Walwyn must be make them new...behold I make all things new...in other words they are telling you that never mind what they did before, give them the government again and if you do there would be no more sorrow and no more pain, no more weeping for the former things have passed away...but ladies and gentlemen I ask you this: Can a leopard change his spots and the tiger his strips?,” said the fired up Premier who started his address with a little dance that had the more than 60 persons in attendance cheering on loudly.
According to the representative, it has been said that the Virgin Islands Party has done nothing for the Virgin Islands but said the people did not have to think very much in order to discard that statement and that all they needed to do is look around the Territory including at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) where there have been additions to the main structure including the resource centre, which houses the Eileene L. Parsons Auditorium. “I wonder if she (Parsons) knows it is a building done by the Virgin Islands Party Government,” the Premier asked cheekily as the crowd roared with approval. The Marine Resource Centre, he added, was also built by the Virgin Islands Party and that very importantly a branch of the college was placed on Virgin Gorda. “We haven’t done anything? Well how that get here?” he asked.
“Oh by the way they will tell you that they provided free education for our children at HLSCC…Well let them tell you what a huge unpaid account that was left at the college, which the Virgin Islands Party had to pay,” the Premier belted out.
The Virgin Gordian, who by all indications last night seems to still be “the man”, also reminded his supporters that it was the VIP Government that signed 22 Tax Arrangement and Exchange Agreements to boost the financial service industry and to “put us on the white list” and that the NDP never signed one during their time in office. On that same note he said he asked the trade department to give him a list of the number of trade licenses applications for 2007 to present which he said revealed some interesting numbers.
“I could reckon from the number of trade license applications that pass my desk indicates that the economy is beginning to come back. The figures were low in 2007/2008 and in 2009 they began to shoot up and in 2010 more than 700 new trade licenses were received many of which were trade licenses pertaining to the financial service industry.”He said the signing of the Tax Arrangement and Exchange Agreements was going to be very critical over the next five years where he predicts a boom in the financial services sector.
“And these are the people who talking about vision and leadership. Sometimes you wonder if they gone off. The Beef Island Bridge, the airport, the Financial Services Commission, the Commercial Court, the Administration Building in Virgin Gorda Valley, the Administration and Post Office building in North Sound...What are they? Aren’t they buildings that the public would use? And who built them?”
The Premier added that the purpose of the BVI House in London, which he said is now a landmark in London, let people there know that there is a Virgin Islands and also said the VIP constructed roads including an alternate road from The Valley to North Sound. “Now who had to pay for a house in Virgin Gorda, which they lied to us that they had purchased for the hospital? It is the Virgin Islands Party Government that had to pay for the house,” the Premier continued.
He said there were also many other successes that could not be seen with the naked eyes such as the passing of Legislation preventing Non-Belongers from purchasing homes that have been foreclosed by banks. Non-Belongers would now have to present a license to purchase such property. He also said the Dormant Accounts Bill is another important legislation that has been passed in the House of Assembly under the VIP Government.
Turning the heat again on the opposition, the Premier said it was not his choice of words to call them New National Democratic Party but rather it would appear that they have acknowledged that they made an “ungodly mess” when they assumed power in 2003. “And some of you must have heard that the elections was not fair,” he said since there were reportedly discrepancies with the counting of the ballots.
In further trying to get his message over to the masses, the Premier and leader of the VIP told the story of the cock and the fox where the fox tricked the cock by persuading him to crow and then grabbed him but the cock was able to outsmart the fox and escaped. The fox tried again to get the cock in his grasp by telling him he did not mean to harm him but the cock dared not come down from the tree to give the fox a second chance.
“Ladies and gentlemen there is no New National Democratic Party. It is the same NDP. We can liken it to a leopard trying to change his spots or the tiger trying to change his stripes and like the cock in the story you cannot dare give them a second chance,” the Premier said amid loud approval.
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