OPPOSITION LEADER SAYS: “GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD”

St. George’s, Grenada, March 10th, 2010: Leader of the Opposition, and Parliamentary Representative for St. George North West, Dr. the Rt. Hon. Keith Mitchell, says he is fully convinced that the Government is on the wrong track as it relates to VAT and condemns their approach which seems to be ‘a fix as we go along approach’.

He said this seems to be the Government’s approach to Governance and will lead to nothing but destruction and failure.  

Dr. Mitchell believes that the Government did everything possible to exclude him from the debate on the imposition of VAT knowing that he will represent the views of the people. He notes that the effort to push VAT down the throats of the people has resulted in more and more hardship. Dr. Mitchell is calling on the members of Government to take a trip around the Tri-island State to see what VAT has been doing to the people.  

According to Dr. Mitchell, it is quite clear that when he held the Office of Prime Minister, he ensured that the process of implementing the VAT was a slow one in which every effort was being made to engage all Grenadians.  He said more importantly, his Government was closely monitoring the world economy as one of the indicators it intended to use to determine the best time to implement VAT. “This is precisely why we took a decision to postpone the implementation of the VAT in 2008.”  

According to Dr. Mitchell, it is instructive to note that the NDC took a decision to implement VAT at a time when the economy is far worse than it was then and at a time when the state of the economy is being described as catastrophic.

Meanwhile, the former Prime Minister is calling on the Government to immediately consider the removal of VAT on burial and other services.  He said too many persons who are already mourning the passing of their families are finding it impossible to access the additional finances to give a decent burial to their loved ones.  

According to Dr. Mitchell, the NDC must immediately go back to the drawing board where VAT is concerned or else the people will find it impossible to survive.