St. George’s, Grenada November 9th, 2011: Former Minister for Works, Hon. Gregory Bowen says Government has the responsibility to create the enabling conditions to facilitate the creation of permanent jobs for our people.  However, since the NDC has failed miserably in this regard, he is calling on the Government to immediately launch a special Debushing Progamme in the interim to help alleviate the sufferings of thousands of families, many of whom have just been placed on the breadline by the government’s inconsiderate actions.

Bowen said if the Government does not begin this programme in the coming week then only one fortnight work will be possible before Christmas.  He reminded the public that before the NDC came into Office, it was a tradition that at this time each year thousands of road workers will be engaged in work on our nation’s roads resulting in more monies in the pockets of our people, and more economic activities in the country.  He added that monies spent on the debushing programme simply means more monies circulating throughout the country with everyone including the shop keepers, bus drivers, store owners, and others benefiting.

Bowen further explained that while the NNP was in office, over 500 contractors per fortnight would be employed at this time of the year creating jobs for over 12,000 ordinary workers.  Commenting on the changes made to the programme since the NDC took office in 2008, he said, “One of the first actions taken by the NDC after they won the 2008 elections was to cut the pay of one of the poorest classes of workers by $100.00 per fortnight.  They went on to cut the number of contractors island-wide benefiting from the programme by more than seventy percent.  Additionally the NDC continues to victimize thousands of persons denying them work because of their perceived political affiliation.”

The Former Minister says at a time when the country is facing an economic crisis he does not understand why the Government is not making work available for the people.  He said there can be no excuse for this, since the Government seems to find the resources to do the things they really want to do.  He pointed to the massive increase in spending on travels and the $120 million per year increase in payroll to benefit the ‘big boys’ of the NDC.  “If some of these monies can be transferred into creating work for at least 4000 road workers per fortnight, then in the coming weeks thousands of families in Grenada will benefit directly and the country will see far more economic activities this Christmas than we saw last year.