Will there be fireworks or not @ TPP opening?
This remains to be seen as there seems to be conflicting reports on the issue. The opening ceremony, previously postponed from December 22, 2015, is slated for today February 16, 2016, at 5:00 pm.
Premier and Minister of Finance Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith, at a press conference on February 10, 2016, stated that there will not be any fireworks following the opening ceremony for the Tortola Pier Park.
However, as recently as Friday February 12, 2016, this news site heard a radio advertisement which confirmed there will be fireworks.
The advertisement was explaining the transportation arrangements for persons from the various sister islands, saying that the ferries for Virgin Gorda, Anegada and Jost Van Dyke will all be departing the tender dock following the fireworks display.
So is it a case of Premier Smith being misinformed or has there been a change from the original plans to have fireworks? And if so why was the advertisement which says there will be fireworks still being aired as recently as Friday February 12, 2016 on a local radio station?
Critics have described as callous the extravagant celebrations surrounding the cruise pier development project, starting with the launch of the landside phase of the project on April 29, 2016 at the end of which was a fireworks display said to have cost taxpayers in the vicinity of $43,000.
At the opening of the dockside development in April 2015, the Government was said to have blown over $100,000 in the festivities and fireworks, drawing the ire of citizens and residents who all said that such a sum of money could have been better spent to pay outstanding bills for persons who have been waiting month after month for their Government cheques for services rendered.
Premer Smith's history of misinforming public
From the inception of the National Democratic Party (NDP) taking to office in 2011, the Opposition Virgin Islands Party (VIP) has been accusing Premier Smith of 'lying' to the public. The first was Premier's Smith announcement that the Virgin Islands Party had left the country broke and public servants were even asked to make a sacrifice by having their increments delayed. The 'VIP left the country broke' mantra was, however, finally debunked in the House of Assembly (HoA) on February 4, 2016.
When questioned by the Opposition Member Hon Julian Fraser RA, (R3) in the HoA in 2012, Premier and Minister of Finance Dr Smith said the Consolidated Fund that he met or inherited from the previous government was some 51 million dollars.
On February 4, 2016, following a question posed this time by senior Opposition Member Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1) in Parliament, it was announced that four years later under the NDP there is a mere $6 million left in the Consolidated Fund.
Misinformation of monies owed to BVIAA
Premier Smith told the HoA on February 4, 2016 that BVI Airways owes the BVI Airports Authority the total sum of $112, 403.40 and that legal action was being sought to recover the funds. “Madam Speaker, the BVI Airports Authority has taken a decision to engage their legal representatives to recover the funds owed by BVI Airways,” Premier Smith had said.
He had also stated that the BVI Airports Authority (BVIAA) is uncertain of when the balance owed will be paid.
However, in a press release from the BVI Airports Authority on February 9, 2016, it was stated that there are no legal actions against BVI Airways.
Speaking at the press conference on February 10, 2016 at the Central Administration Complex, the Premier admitted to misinforming the House of Assembly when he said the matter of the outstanding payments to the BVIAA by BVI Airways was in court but it was satisfactorily resolved, so there is currently no legal matter.
Contradicting information on cost of 'ESHS Wall'
Just recently, Minister for Education and Culture Hon Myron V. Walwyn insinuated that Premier Smith gave inaccurate information to the House of Assembly regarding the cost of erecting a perimeter fence around the Elmore Stoutt High School buildings.
The two figures spent around the 2015 election time on the 'high school wall' were Eight Hundred and Twenty-eight Thousand Dollars ($828,000.00) and another Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars ($250,000.00), according to information released by the Minister of Finance Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith in the HoA on February 4, 2016.
However, to justify this reckless spending on a wall, Minister Walwyn told a radio station that the Premier provided inaccurate information to the Public via the House of Assembly (HoA) as his Ministry’s records show a different figure for the ESHS wall- costing only “nine hundred and fourteen thousand dollars.”
Hon Walwyn, the second term Minister for Education and Culture, told the local radio station that the over one million figure provided by the Minister of Finance was for other works done beside the wall and even works on Virgin Gorda.
The Minister therefore contradicted the Minister of Finance’s figures when Premier Smith responded to a question posed by Senior Opposition Member Hon Fahie on spending via advance warrant not approved by Parliament.
Denial of CDB report on Ports Project
Also on on February 10, 2016, Premier Smith denied the existence of a Caribbean Development Bank report on the Ports Development Project, even though Governor John S. Duncan OBE and the Opposition Members have spoken of having knowledge of the report.
The VIP Opposition, the media, civil servants and others have long contended that they cannot trust the accuracy of answers to questions by NDP Government Ministers, as they are often not accurate, or a mixture of half-truths and outright lies.
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