Over half a billion dollars voted by Parliament for agriculture in St. Vincent and the Grenadines was not spent over the last 15 years, says Central Kingstown MP, St. Clair Leacock.
Citing the Auditor General’s reports, Leacock told an opposition New Democratic Party campaign event in Diamond Village that they should not return their MP, Agriculture Minister Saboto Caesar to a fourth five-year term in office.
“A man going in a room and the whole room, ‘Caesar! Caesar! Caesar!’ and he gone under the table, ‘Camillo! Camillo! Camillo! Camillo! What the hell you want with such a person in politics.”
Leacock was responding in part to the chants of “Caesar! Caesar! Caesar!” as Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves walked into the auditorium of the Campden Park Secondary School during the ruling Unity Labour Party’s convention on July 31, 2022, when the party was expected to elect a new deputy leader.
After the chant, Gonsalves and Caesar appeared to have a heated exchange on stage. The party went on to retain Montgomery Daniel as its deputy leader.
The North Windward PM is still in the position even as he has announced that he will not contest the next general election.
Continuing his criticism of Caesar, Leacock said:
“If he going into an election in 2015 and he can’t stand down and tell you that even good looks can’t cook, that man turn has come, and he sit down and accept that, we don’t have no damn respect for we self in Diamond, South Central Windward nor in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“New time. Change for the better,” said Leacock, an NDP vice-president, who will seek a fourth five-year term as MP for Central Kingstown.
“But I bring them books her down here by me foot. I might peep in in one of them. But I’m telling you that this is a fact, and the evidence is here, … over the last 15 years, … over half of a billion dollars … voted for agriculture in St. Vincent and the Grenadines has not been spent.”
Leacock pointed out that he had set up the government by asking the question in Parliament.
He said the money for agriculture included for fisheries, adding that the government did not have the money in the first place, even as it was included in the budget approved by Parliament.
“… but they know how to send the food a little further and the Auditor General speaks about that,” the opposition lawmakers said.
“That’s why the road them ain’t fix because they broke to thief. But where they feel they can manipulate people, they also do. Every year that is the story in this constituency and in agriculture.”
Leacock said that it takes a while in Parliament to find the truth “because normally they’ll tell you, A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
“But it’s not until three or four years after that you get the evidence and find out the truth. … That is when you get the audit report, which really says what they said they will do and what they actually do.”
He said that in the 2021 audit report, the Minister of Agriculture got EC$28 million to spend but spent only EC$9 million.
“$19 million nearly $20 million went back unspent,” Leacock said, adding that in 2020 the estimate was for EC$48 million.
“They revised it, they carry it up to $54 million in the hands of the Minister to spend,” Leacock said, adding that Caesar spent EC$5 million.
“$49,071,380.93 went back unspent,” he said, adding that the minister said the money was not spent because those were the COVID-19 and La Soufriere eruption years.
Leacock, however, noted that in 2019, Caesar’s ministry was allocated EC$20 million for agriculture and fisheries, and spent 5.
“So those are the terrible years. I am going to 2014 because I said good looks can’t cook.
And when people come here, they vote for good looks, and then they go home and realise they can’t cook,” Leacock said
He said that in 2014, which was unaffected by COVID and the volcano, Parliament allocated EC$18 million to Caesar to develop agriculture.
“He spent $2 million of the 18,” Leacock said, adding that if he had the time he would have the audience through the report “to show you what Diamond is holding on to and what South Central Windward is holding on to”.
Leacock also said that Caesar was allocated EC$1.1 million for rural development and community infrastructure.
“He didn’t spend a single cent. All the money went back. Coco production — $150,000; he ain’t spent a single cent. … Rural Development, $3.5 million; he spent 1.6.
“Hear this one: upgrade … agricultural extension stations. He got $631,400. He didn’t spend a damn cent. All the money went back,” Leacock said and mentioned the vote number: 451302.
“Upgrade agricultural headquarters, 400,000; he spent $14,000. You all have to know these. These are the facts. Good looks can’t cook.”
Leacock said the government voted $450,000 for a fisheries development programme.
“It was revised. It stayed the same place. How much he has to be spent? Zero not a red cent. The $450,000 for a fisheries development went back. And people driving through here creating the impression that they are movers of mountain, and all them need to be shipped out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” Leacock said.
He said the only truthful thing ever said in Parliament about the failure of agriculture was that SVG does not ship a single container of any agricultural produce on a weekly basis.
“So how would you feed yourself? Good looks can’t cope. You gotta do something about it. So that time is now,” Leacock said.
“You need a man who is good for his word. I didn’t go through the biggest book I brought here because that was 2014, because we were on the right track. They were telling us how many acres of mango, bananas, papaya, grapefruit, everything we need to grow.
“And it is something that the NDP still has to do, because … unless you produce, produce and produce, you cannot feed a factory,” he said, referring to the NDP’s proposal to set up a food processing plant.
“In order for us to have agriculture processing, we must have the fruit to go through the factory and the New Democratic Party, through Bruce, who I believe will become your Minister of Agriculture, and with the support of an agriculturist in Conroy Huggins and under the watchful eyes of the president, the bright days will be here in South Central Windward,” Leacock said.