Deputy Premier the Hon Sean Astwood says he cannot sit idly by and decided to respond today to Former Premier Dr.Rufus Ewing.
In his letter sent to RTC, the DP says and I quote:
I normally avoid referring to events of the past but since the failed former leader of the PNP, Hon. Rufus Ewing, accused the current PDM administration of either running scared or being incompetent, I will have to remind him of the PNP Government being both scared and incompetent under his leadership.
100% Service Charge
In April 2016, the Peoples Democratic Movement, the official opposition at the time, successfully brought a Private Members Motion to the House of Assembly asking for the reinstatement of 100% gratuity which was amended by the PNP Government in 2004 that allowed 40% of the gratuity paid by guest to be retained by the Hotel Resort. Members of the Rufus Ewing led PNP Government gave reason after reason why gratuity could not be reinstated. All Government Ministers abstained from voting for this motion and this included Hon. Rufus Ewing, Akierra Missick, Washington Misick, Portia Stubbs Smith, Norman Saunders, Ruth Blackman, and Hon. Donhue Gardiner. This is a matter of public record. All 8 members of the PDM opposition voted yes and the motion was carried. The PNP Government refused to implement it. This was a clear indication that the Rufus Ewing led PNP Government had no intention of ensuring that 100% service charge was received by the persons in tourism industry who rightfully deserved it.
PDM was the only Party that ran on reinstating 100% gratuity and the only Government to bring the Bill to the House of Assembly to ensure that this happens. History shows that the only party that was scared to restore the 100% to the hospitality workers was the Rufus Ewing led PNP Government.” End quote.
In the just concluded HOA, leader of tge Opposition tried to present a motion on
Vehicle Policy to which Hon Astwood now responds.
Hon. Washington Misick brought a motion to the House for a vehicle policy and did not attached the reference document for his motion. Therefore Hon. Misick could not expect to debate this motion when the Government was not privy to information he wanted to reference. With all his years of legislative experience, Hon. Misick should have known better. Hon. Misick must accept fault for his failure to prepare a proper motion. If he is serious about his private member’s motion, he should resubmit the motion with the reference document attached.
The former failed PNP leader refers to the Premier disrespecting the Leader of the Opposition. However, he neglected to mention the disrespect displayed by the Leader of the Opposition towards the Premier. After the Premier asked the Speaker of the House of Assembly to take a ten-minute break to allow the Leader of the Opposition to collect his thoughts, the Leader of the Opposition became irate and hurled disrespectful words towards the Premier and the Premier responded. The Premier apologized to the Leader of the Opposition, the HOA, and the Country for her response to the Leader of the Opposition, however the Leader of the Opposition has yet to apologize to the Premier.
Incompetence
The Rufus Ewing led PNP administration’s premature firing of the former Attorney General which resulted in his Government being sued and ultimately having to settle costing taxpayers thousands of dollars in an undisclosed amount is just one example of incompetence under Rufus leadership. The Rufus Ewing led PNP Government also was sued by students that were entitled to scholarships that his Government refused to honour. The fact that Hon. Rufus Ewing called the wrong election date in 2016 which resulted in him going into an election like a deer in headlights magnified his level of incompetence.
However, the ultimate demonstration of incompetence and recklessness is when the former Premier and former member of the National Security Council in a press release, after Hurricane Irma, publicly stated that our radar station was damaged and needed to be repaired, thereby announcing to the world that our borders was open to be breached.
The former leader of the PNP was out of touch when he was Premier, and he continues to be out of touch and clueless as to what is transpiring in the HOA but if he wants to go down the road of being reminded of his lack luster performance as the former Premier of this country, I will oblige him.”
