07th
March 2013
Full Scale
Investigation Called For
M.G. George
Is
it a case of a storm in a teacup or is it as
big as Opposition Leader Stephenson King is
claiming and deserving of a full investigation?
Saint Lucians,
late last month were hit with the news that
they had lost their voting rights as a member
of the United Nations General Assembly.
As with everything
else in this country the finger pointing began
and the political blame game started. Seeking
any chance to show off the government in a bad
light the opposition headed by the Member for
Castries North, Stephenson King decided to lead
the attack against the government, going as
far as calling for a full investigation into
the circumstances leading to the loss of Saint
Lucia’s voting privileges at the United
Nations.
The call for
a full investigation was made Tuesday via a
press release from King’s office.
King, in that
release, dismissed the reason given by the island’s
current UN Ambassador, MenissaRambally claiming
that her reason was “an attempt to mislead
the Saint Lucian people on the facts and an
act of intellectual dishonesty.”
Rambally at
the time said that Saint Lucia would honour
its commitments and that the debt to the UN
which Saint Lucia incurred was under the administration
of none other than King himself.
King to date
has yet to deny that, however, the former Youth
and Sports Minister in the King administration,
Lenard Montoute seemed to have accepted the
stain on his administration when he said, in
a press statement, that government is an ongoing
process and there is no such thing as one administration’s
debt that is not the responsibility of a succeeding
administration.
King, in an
effort to justify his claim for a full investigation
into the circumstances surrounding the loss
of voting rights at the UN, said that “based
on information obtained from the United Nations
website: http://www.un.org/en/ it is clear that
the former UWP Government also inherited a debt
of US $69,756 which was owed to the UN’s
Regular Budget by the last Dr. Kenny Anthony
SLP Administration. That in itself is a clear
indication that there were no payments for a
period leading up to December 2006.
“In 2007,
when Saint Lucia’s assessed annual contribution
was revised at $20,008 US, an amount of $89,745
US was paid to the United Nations to cover the
arrears together with the 2007 contribution;
with only $19.00 US outstanding, thus averting
the situation that we are in now.
“Between
2007 and 2010 Saint Lucia’s outstanding
contribution was only $18,290 US, which was
fully paid in 2010. The assessed contribution
for 2010 also went up to $21,146 US and again
in 2012 it went to $23,631 US.
“In 2007,
when Saint Lucia’s assessed annual contribution
was revised at $20,008 US, an amount of $89,745
US was paid to the United Nations to cover the
arrears together with the 2007 contribution;
with only $19.00 US outstanding, thus averting
the situation that we are in now,” King
said.
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