Is political dirt being weaponized? The opposition is hitting back, claiming unfair attacks against St. Vincent and the Grenadines' Prime Minister over luxury apartment purchases by his family.
At the heart of the issue: timing and transparency. Questions are being raised about why this is surfacing now, amidst elections, and whether proper procedures were followed. The opposition defends the open market sale of the units, countering allegations of illegal activity.
Who's accountable for this information leak? Concerns are mounting over potential misuse of confidential data and the impact on public trust.
00:00The opposition is taking their political rivals to task over what they described as an unfair and politically charged attack on St. Vincent and the Grenadines' Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, centred around the purchase of three HDC-owned luxury apartments by his wife and two children.
00:19This discussion is taking place at a time when there is elections in St. Vincent and the question arises as to why now because when you look at the article, again, Robert's Victoria Keyes purchase for police scrutiny and you go through the article, he talks about the police investigating the matter
00:45and whether or not these apartments were declared to the Integrity Commission in St. Vincent.
00:54Opposition leader Penelope Beckles reminded the public that although the Victoria Keyes project was initiated under a PNM administration in 2002,
01:04it was the UNC government in 2010 that changed the scope of works, expanding costs from $200 million to $600 million.
01:14She said this is why, upon returning to office, the PNM moved to take a critical decision on the development.
01:22It is true to say that almost all the houses distributed by governments are subsidized.
01:31But when we looked at the Victoria Keyes after we calculated the $600 million, Dr. Rowley, at the time Prime Minister, his cabinet, took the decision for those houses to go on the open market.
01:47Beckles explained that once the units were placed on the open market standard HDC criteria, such as home ownership status, citizenship, and income thresholds, no longer applied.
02:00It is very unfortunate that Minister Roberts has decided, as a minister in a ministry where he now has access to confidential information,
02:18to use that information and try to persuade the public that the People's National Movement did some kind of illegal and underhand act
02:31in Prime Minister Gonzalez's family purchasing apartments that is available on the open market.
02:43She added that several units remain available and are priced between $1.4 and $4 million.
02:50On the matter of the rent-to-own arrangement extended to one member of the Gonzales family, Beckles offered clarification.
02:58That particular apartment had some challenges and they were taking quite a while to get it sorted out.
03:03So I think that was the reason for it being done that week.
03:07And that's not the only apartment that has problems.
03:09Opposition Senator Faris al-Rawi, who previously served on the HDC board, placed responsibility on the former UNC administration,
03:18accusing them of shifting the project from its original focus on small and middle-income households to a high-income development.
03:27But, he said, the actions of Minister Anil Roberts and how the information was shared crossed the line.
03:33Are you comfortable that your personal information could be on a platform, worse yet, on some program called Polarion something or whatever he's called himself?
03:45When you look at this thing and you see media houses reporting Polarion juice or whatever his program is called,
03:52you have to ask yourself, are you confident that you're in the right hands with a government minister leaking,
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