Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Dr Ralph Gonsalves today created a stir in Parliament when he told legislators that he was aware of plots to assassinate him.
“Yesterday one person on a radio station publicly called for the removal of the government by any means necessary… through violence if necessary,” Gonsalves said in a statement to Parliament. He said last month his ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) secured “an unambiguous victory grounded in legality and popular legitimacy” and that within that month the opposition has called for the government’s removal.
“Cocaine traffickers and money launderers are conspiring actively with others to kill the Prime Minister and on the public airwaves people are being exhorted by some to use any means necessary to remove a democratically elected government. “That is what the vast majority of law abiding and right thinking Vincentians are faced with. I am sure that they would resist those who are bent on disorder, mayhem and criminal activities.”
He said he has weighed all the relevant considerations in the matter, including those of national security, ongoing investigations and his personal safety and he has concluded “that the current course is to inform the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines about the matter”.
The Prime Minister, whose administration tabled the estimates of expenditure ahead of Monday’s budget presentation, said that law abiding, right thinking people of the country “are the ultimate bulwark against these nefarious criminals and conspirators”.
In an immediate reaction to the statement by the Prime Minister, the Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace called for clarification and questioned whether the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) is involved in any plot or in any way linked to those persons that the Prime Minister had spoken about. But the Speaker Hendrick Alexander said that he does not know if the Prime Minister would want to clarify any statement.
Gonsalaves told legislators that he made a Ministerial statement on National Security and disclosed what he considered pertinent at the time.(CMC)
