UPP Urges Independent Probe into $15 Million Vehicle Scandal, Rejects PM Browne’s Account
The opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) is calling for an independent investigation into what it describes as a $15 million scandal involving the unauthorized purchase of hundreds of vehicles through the Ministry of Public Works.
In a statement on Monday, the party said it places “no confidence” in Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s explanation of events, accusing him of offering a “selective narration” that shifts blame away from himself, his wife, and senior ministers.
The UPP said that “no thinking person could credit that a scam of this magnitude was not known to either minister,” adding that if that were true, their “failure to know what was taking place in both their ministries renders them unfit to govern.”
The party also criticized what it called Browne’s “inauthentic attacks on business people” and his “sudden championship of the poor,” saying those remarks “ring hollow after a decade of greedy self-enrichment by Cabinet Ministers.”
According to the release, the UPP views the prime minister’s response as “base pandering and a barely disguised attempt to win the approval of the outraged and exploited taxpayers.”
Citing “transfers and pending reassignments of senior officers” and “the resignation of the Comptroller of Customs,” the opposition said the matter “cannot be swept under the carpet or minimized by acts of fake forgiveness.”
The UPP said Browne should authorize an independent investigation into the Ministry of Public Works “and allow the facts and the testimony to speak for themselves.” It added, “Those who are innocent should have nothing to fear.”
The statement concluded that “if faith and trust in the government systems are to be restored, nothing less than an independent investigation will suffice.”
The release was signed by UPP Political Leader Hon. Jamale Pringle, Chairman Dame D. Gisele Isaac, General Secretary Sen. Shawn M. Nicholas, and Treasurer Mr. Leon George.
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Quit agree, and all right thinking individuals regardless of party affiliation should want the same and allow the chips to fall where they may. Then we can have a proper reset
add the DEAD DARG contract to the list too
#investigate
This gets right to the point. This is a major scandal and should be investigated no matter who you support. Either way, the honourable PM and his wife have some…’splaining to do
You know it sad. After having been in office for ten years and having presided over many scandals that never have had public inquiry even though many called for them. The most we got was an internal investigation in what was known as the Fences Scandals, the UPP is the last one to have the moral authority to be calling for Public Inquiry. But I understand the calls. Having seem what happened at a public inquiry, reminds me of the MBS, all we had to see was a political theatre called Name and Shame. We need an Inquiry by the DPP and that is as independent as it can get. If the goal is to prosecute the alledge wrongdoers. And furthermore government resources would prohibit us to spend so much money on just a Name and Shame Game. This is it not like the USA with the Watergate investigation. And even there all we got was a name and shame. Because Nixon was in the end Pardoned by Ford. And when it came to the Iran Contra Affairs, again on man by the name of Oliver North took the hit. When we all could see that Ronald Reagan had a hand in this. So no I do not agree with a Public Name and Shame show, but I do think the Judiciary need to strp up and be counted and show the people of this country that he law is the law for everyone, not just some of us.
“No thinking person could credit that a scam of this magnitude was not known to either minister. But if, indeed, it was not, then their failure to know what was taking place in both their ministries renders them unfit to govern.” – That alone says all that needs to be said
Be careful what y’all call for. Check on your friends and family to make sure they are clean before y’all ask for this, cause you done know.