By Duggie Joseph
Caribbean Net News St Vincent Correspondent
Email: duggie@caribbeannetnews.com

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent: The parliamentary opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) took its protest to the Grenadine island of Bequia this week as it tried to bring pressure on the government to make a number of changes in its policies. One of the government policies the NDP would like to see an immediate change in is the EC$1 port user-fee charge persons have to pay when travelling by boat to the Grenadines.

NDP Leader Arnhim Eustace (centre) during the protest march from Port Elizabeth

This issue is being kept alive by the opposition, as it seeks to rally its supporters to have the EC$1 user-fee removed. But the Unity Labour Party (ULP) administration of Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves is not budging on this issue. Public Relations officer of the NDP, lawyer Vynnette Frederick, said the recent march and rally was “well received” by the people of Bequia.

A release from Frederick states that persons from different political persuasions marched from Port Elizabeth, Bequia’s capital, to Hamilton and then back to the capital where the rally was held. The release states the march and rally was aimed at protesting what the NDP term the ‘dollar tax’, the impact of value added tax, which was introduced on May 1, a proposed plan to remove garbage from another Grenadine island, Canouan, and dump on Bequia and the “impending removal of the almond trees on the waterfront.”

Frederick’s release said the people were “vociferous in their condemnation of the government.” Frederick said President of the NDP, Arnhim Eustace, was passionate in his presentation, underscoring all the problems that the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines face, “in light of the incompetence of the ULP administration.”

Apart from Eustace, addresses were made by the Parliamentary Representative for the Northern Grenadines, Dr Godwin Friday, Parliamentary Representative for the Southe4rn Grenadines, Terrance Ollivierre, Senator Major St Clair Leacock, Patel Matthews and Frederick herself. “It was the first time such a protest was held on Bequia,” Frederick said.

The NDP members who journeyed from the mainland to Bequia did not pay the EC$1.user fee charge. Frederick said they were taken to Bequia by a “speed boat”, which she says was provided by a “party supporter.” Late last month the NDP staged a protest at the Grenadines Wharf, in relation to the EC$1 user-fee charge. There was confrontation between the police and protesters, with some persons making claims they were physically abused by the police. The matter could be heading for the courts.