Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has weighed in on the destruction of property belonging to Huffles at Brighton Beach, which, according to the area representative, was carried out in an unauthorized manner.
Gonsalves said on Monday during an API interview that the state cannot act like a bandit, and those who carried out the unauthorized act will know such actions can’t stand.
“Some person or persons in the National Parks and Beaches Authority acted in an unauthorized manner. Well, such unauthorized conduct has consequences. The state cannot behave like a bandit. I will show those who want to conduct themselves in an unauthorized manner that such will not be allowed to stand”.
Gonsalves said the chairman of the board, the permanent secretary, the tourism minister, the area representative, or the Prime Minister didn’t know such actions were going to be carried out. “It was completely unauthorized”, Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves said he called Huffles on Friday, when he was driving from Casablanca to Marrakesh in Morocco, and told him and his wife what Camilo told him: that the government will rebuild what he lost and will provide appropriate compensation for the time when he lost business.
Last Thursday, the area representative for East St. George, Camilo Gonsalves, said what rangers working for National Parks did was unauthorized.
“I want to say unequivocally that not only was it not done with my authority, to the extent that I have authority there, it was not done with the authority of the Ministry of Tourism, which has responsibility for parks and beaches. This is a complete surprise to me; it was an unauthorized act. It was arbitrary, it was capricious, and it was wrong”.
Gonsalves stated that, in addition to property destruction, all of the property destroyed was put on private land next door, and he is unsure when parks and beaches in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines began accumulating litter.
Gonsalves further stated that If the National Parks wanted to do something at Brighton Beach, it would have been better if they helped clean up the sargassum.
