PM Browne: Dr Oswald should do his research

Gaston Browne, prime minister, yesterday disagreed with Antiguan political analyst, Dr. Oswald Thomas, who had suggested that the electorate has be- come numb to allegations of corruption within the government.
Dr. Thomas made the comment Tuesday as he dis- cussed figures released in the recent political opinion poll that was conducted by the Caribbean Development Re- search Services, CADRES.
The figures were re- leased in the DAILY Observer publication of Saturday, February, 17. Late in the evening on the day prior, CADRES director Peter Wickham, disclosed that the agency carried out “approximately 800 face-to-face inter- views … in all constituencies” in Antigua between February 2 and 5.
According to the report, the opinion poll sought answers to three questions: (i) the respondents’ key national concerns; (ii) respondents’ preferred candidate for prime minister; (iii) which political party respondents would vote for in a general election.
In a report on OB- SERVER Radio on Tuesday, it was stated that the issue of corruption was low on the list of respondents in the CADRES poll and was surpassed by issues such as the cost of living, unemployment, crime, road repair, the economy, and leadership.
According to the poll, 27 percent of the respondents indicated that the cost of living was their primary concern. For a comparison, corruption was at 4 percent. Dr. Thomas, a former political advisor to the ABLP for many years, said that people are tired of too much talk and little action on the issue. He said folks were more concerned about the bread and butter issues than who is corrupt or who is pointing the finger.
“We have heard that broken record being played so often, we don’t want to hear it, we are more concerned about unemployment, cost of living, putting food on the table, feeding our children or buying clothes,” Dr. Thomas said.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)