A political analyst has cautioned Prime Minister Gaston Browne that he crossed the line of acceptable commentary when he dismissed the voices expressing concern about Callaloo Cay as uneducated, and invited the project’s developer to “ignore them”.
Director of Political Affairs at the New York-based firm Paramount Communications Dr Oswald Thomas concluded that Browne was “calling out certain people who he feels were the instigators or troublemakers”.
“To give them a tongue-lashing at an opening in the community – I think it’s inappropriate … and you cannot tell folks that they cannot oppose, because it is their right to do so. All you can do is ask persons to be constructive in their opposition to any project,” Dr Thomas said.
On Tuesday, Browne addressed business people, contractors, state officials and the media at Callaloo Cay’s ground-breaking ceremony and classified those residents of Old Road who had concerns about the development as being politically motivated.
“We should ignore them. The reality is their objections bring no serious value to the development of the country,” he declared.
In reference to those who were concerned about the flow of storm water being obstructed by the construction of the new hotel, Browne said they were “pretending to be water engineers” but did not “even have one CXC [subject]”.
“The PM is correct in saying that folks should not oppose [a] project simply to oppose it, or simply to play politics and those are appropriate comments. But the other comments … can come across as offensive to folks,” Dr Thomas said.
More in today’s Daily Observer.