Ten years ago we wrote the following article. Sadly, we have had no progress in the last 10 years under the ULP regime, and the article is still relevant. SVG needs change.
“‘Everything is dead, and many of those who live are cannibals, feeding off the blood and misery of the poor’.
Our country is suffering under economic cannibalism. Gonsalves allows the super-rich of Mustique, Canouan Resorts and Taiwan blanket tax and customs duty exemptions, yet the poor struggles to survive. This policy eats the poor to feed the rich.
Gonsalves sells off prime agricultural land to foreigners for tourism projects that don’t really benefit the poor, and uses prime agricultural land to build a jail. Meanwhile, the agricultural industry is failing and our country struggles to feed itself. This puts the nation’s food security at risk.
Gonsalves sells off crown lands to fill holes in the budget, then wastes the country’s money with failed projects, then sells off more crown lands to fill the even bigger holes in the budget. The country is getting poorer and our people are getting poorer as our wealth is being sold to the rich.
Under Gonsalves, the economy is eating itself. He raises taxes and uses VAT for income, but this just eats up businesses. Sales of businesses go down and they are forced to fire people. Fewer people then have money and fewer people can pay tax, so the government’s income gets lower.
In response, Gonsalves raises taxes again, increases electricity and water rates, then people have less money and so it goes on in circles. Our economy is like a hungry man eating himself to feed himself. This stupid policy chokes the economy and sucks money out of circulation.
Under economic cannibalism, desperation sets in as the inequality between the rich and the poor becomes greater, and crime and poverty become the main product, as people/families struggle to put food on the table.
As more and more taxpayers’ money is being spent on fighting crime, less and less is available to invest in education. As more and more people leave school without an education and without skills to be employable, more and more people turn to crime and more and more money is wasted fighting this relentless spiral of crime.
Gonsalves’ policies persecute the productive potential of the economy – professionals, investors, entrepreneurs and skilled workers – stifling the private sector and creating a serious lack of innovation and growth. This means no money is created by businesses and no jobs are created by businesses.
Why do we continue down Gonsalves’ economic path to ruin and destruction when it is so clearly lit by the beacon of our nation’s bankruptcy?
The monetary lifeblood of our country is being sucked out of our people under the economic cannibalism of the ULP regime. Taiwan exploits SVG’s deep sea fish licence and takes the country’s wealth, when this money should be used to fund free education from pre-school to university. Economic cannibalism is creating widespread social instability.
A Green economy is the solution to the economic cannibalism in SVG and will create thousands of new jobs and new, sustainable revenue for the country. We need to bring prosperity to our people and use indigenous resources to create new products for export to stimulate economic growth. SVG must plough heavy investments into education and move away from economic cannibalism and the delusion of tourism.”
