Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves threw down the proverbial gauntlet on Wednesday evening as he candidly declared, “Lorraine Friday has to pay” for potentially libelous statements that were allegedly made during a virtual media briefing hosted by the New Democratic Party last Saturday evening.
Dr. Gonsalves was speaking as a guest on VC3 Channel 114’s weekly installment of Round Table Talk. He updated hundreds of media audiences on the “blow that I got in my head,” the legal ramifications of blocking an elected member’s entrance to and egress from the local House of Assembly as well as why he was confidently laying the blame for his misfortune on August 5 squarely at the feet of the Opposition Leader.
In an earlier part of the interview the injured political leader said:
“I got the message from my security that both St. Clair Leacock and Lorraine Friday was trying to get in touch with me. I called St. Clair and I also told him, I said: ‘I’m calling you but I will not call Friday and if Friday calls me I will not take the call because I hold him responsible, personally responsible, for my injury over the blood spilling and concussion.”
The 5-term prime minister doubled down on his previously communicated decision not to have any further relations with Dr. Godwin Friday. “I don’t have to talk to him. If I have to do any consultation, what required by the Constitution, I write him! I don’t want to have anything at all to communicate with him about.
“I don’t want him to tell me morning and ah not telling him morning. Not only not talking to him, not answering the phone. I am telling you that is how I feel today on the eleventh of August – 6 days after this incident. And there’s more that I know that I wouldn’t talk.”
PM Gonsalves pointed to “three tests” which he claimed that Dr. Friday “as a leader in the circumstances should have taken and met” even as he discounted the presence of civil servants at the August 5 anti-Public Health Act amendment protests.
“The first one: as soon as he heard about this, he should go on the bull horn – on the public address system on which he was speaking intermittently the whole day. He should have said: ‘this protest now has to be discontinued. Something has happened, the Prime Minister has been injured – this has gone beyond any normal protest, I will have none of it, I will not encourage this’ and close it down.
“That’s the first thing – he did nothing of the sort. In fact, there were NDP people outside beating drums and singing and chanting – including persons who canvassed for them – saying: ‘the world boss get ah buss head; he shudda dead’…. They were doing that while he’s in Parliament saying my bloodshed is regrettable. So he want me talk to him?”
After that “first test outside to tell his people that they should go,” the prime minister opined that the Opposition Leader’s next scrutiny should have occurred in Parliament where he failed to “unequivocally condemn the violence…. It took him about 5 hours before he did that.”
According to Prime Minister Gonsalves, when Dr. Friday finally took a firm stance against the violence that cropped up in the now infamous protest actions, “he equalized my buss head – where I have a right to traverse as a Parliamentarian going to the Parliament – with some alleged incident between a policeman and somebody else.”
And the final assessment – “he shudda call Eloise (Dr. Gonsalves’ wife) and say: ‘I am so disgusted as to what has happened to Ralph please find out from him if he’d permit me to come and visit him at the hospital.”
Dr. Gonsalves further explained that former prime minister Sir James Mitchell video phoned in his “uncompromising” sentiments against the injurious outcome of the day’s agitation.
Add to these acclaimed injuries, PM Gonsalves continued, the allegedly libelous insult of being accused of misbehavior in public office.
“I’m going to refer this to the lawyer as soon as I get back to work to my lawyer,” the 70 plus years old politician prefaced.
“This is what he said about the searches which were done Saturday afternoon into Saturday evening” Gonsalves continued while explaining: “I am quoting Friday from the press conference because what I do – I don’t listen to them but I will have them taped and have it transcribed so I can read at my leisure.
“This is what he said: ‘it is quite clear that the intention has been signaled all the way from the top by Ralph Gonsalves and others, is that they are coming for the people – ’ notice the language – ‘they are coming for the people.’
I, Ralph, I’m ‘coming for the people who they perceive as being on the forefront of the demonstration that happened on Thursday this week. We can expect therefore that other persons would be on that long list of persons that they have targeted today.’
“Notice, I, I’m doing all of this you know. I’m coming for people. I’m targeting people. I’m the prime minister you know; all that is misbehavior in public office you know. If that is true, it happens to be false.
“Then he goes on: ‘this is clearly an attempt – ’ notice he using clear twice; clear – is a clear intention ah mine now ‘this is clearly an attempt to intimidate and to frighten protestors, to frighten Vincentian citizens, nationals, who have taken to the streets because they are in disagreement with the government particularly regarding the Bill that was passed in the House recently to amend the Public Health Act’.”
The prime minister further described the August 5 protest as being “illegal under the Act – under the Public Order Act, using public address system when they not supposed to do it.
“It’s illegal because they did not give notification, they didn’t have any permission to use amplified music. When the police told persons: ‘move, clear the way’ while I was there they didn’t clear it.’
“Now he is saying that I, I am the person who has made these search warrants go to all these people and its done to intimidate and frighten Vincentians who just have a disagreement with me.
“If that is true, I am guilty of misbehavior in public office which is a criminal offence at Common Law carrying 1 year imprisonment.
“I don’t, Theresa, direct police to search you. I don’t fill out no warrant, I don’t direct, I don’t – I’m not a justice of the peace or a magistrate to issue a warrant.
“Friday will have to pay for this! And I was giving him a break from what he had said earlier about a year or so ago that with the [indecipherable] that I was corrupt. I’m not giving any quarter to Lorraine Friday.
“When he – my blood is spilled and this is what he is saying about me? I’m a very reflective person you know and I’m good natured and I’m easy going and everybody knows that but now this is a bridge too far.”
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3 Comments
Ralph Gonsalves is delusional. SVG People are fed up and unhappy with your administration. Don’t get me started. Ralph, you fake, you will get what you deserve. You could fool some people some time but you can’t fool all the people all the time. Cornelius John still doesn’t have a prayer. stewps.
What pettiness am I reading? Our country is split down the middle and the person with the power is saying ‘ I not saying morning and I not taking his morning!’ Are we 5 years old? You choose to walk through a protest with an angry crowd. There are videos ( check news784)of another Minister DRIVING his vehicle THROUGH the gates DIRECTLY behind you and your security. He does NOT have security with outriders, vehicles front and back, bullet proof glass etc. YET HE can drive through ( silver Lexxus going in the gate).
Why spend so much of tax payers money buying security modified vehicle; having security front and back , outrider whenever riding yet made a DECISION to WALK through an angry protest? Logic defies me!
And now behaving like a 5year old on a playground! This is NOT leadership
Perhaps the PM deserve a little sympathy, but not much. It seems he brought the problem on himself. He wanted to make a political point. Where was his security? Did he not know how unpopular he had become in SVG? Why faced the crow? Why fly to Barbados for treatment? Health care in SVG not up to standard after twenty years in power? This was a political stunt that did not work.
There are so many wrong things this PM and his government has done.
PM you have divided the nation.
You and your government have increased poverty, unemployment. You have increased income inequality and wealth. You have made the crime situation in SVG worse in twenty years. Vincy people are fearful of walking the streets. It never used to be like this. You only do big projects like AIA. Why? Some benefits there? You have victimised black people like Bigger Biggs and others. You have no respect for women in this country. Can you travel to Canada now? What about the woman that was wrongly sent to Mental Hospital. Where is her human rights? You and others ruined her career. You and the justice system don’t apply the Rule of law equally to all Vincentians. People like the Senator and and Deputy Director of public Prosecutions are meant to uphold the Rule of Law. Not undermine the Rule of Law. PM you tie the hands of the Police so they can’t do their operational duties. PM you lack morality, integrity and a caring attitude. The PM and the ULP government have taken SVG down the pits. Vincentians want to get out of the pit.
There are several issues in SVG to be deal with and you PM and the ULP are in capable of dealing with those issues.
Vincentians want a future for their children, grandchildren and even future generations. We want to get back to a full democratic country. We want to maintain our way of life. PM you and the ULP have taken that way of life from Vincentians. We want be happy again as we go about our daily like. We are a happy people.
This is the clear message I have for you PM. The future of our children, grandchildren and future generations is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than the future of Ralph Gonsalves and the ULP. And remember this PM. Leaders/PMs come and go. It is time for you and the ULP to go, so we Vincentians can have a united and happy country again. We will get our country back. We will just take back.