Residents tired of false hope, says Penn

Eighth District Representative Marlon Penn described the Premier’s budget speech this week as being filled with flowery words and false hope.

“We heard a lot of good talk, a lot of good talk, but we need to see where – as they say, the devil is in the details – and we have to see the details of the budget to see if it reflects all the flowery of words that the Premier presented here for us,” Penn said after the budget was delivered.

Penn suggested that an initial glance at the budget showed that key areas such as infrastructure and issues surrounding the economy and business sector appeared to lack sufficient funding.

“Particularly, the Premier talked about the re-establishment of the National Business Bureau. I looked in the budget, there’s only $27,000 allocated for the business bureau,” Penn said.

He added: “How can you run a business bureau with just 27,000? Again, the government and the Premier and his cabinet have to show us where the monies are gonna come from to move these initiatives forward. We can’t just give people false hope. People are tired of false hope and flowery language.”

The District Representative further argued that residents want concrete plans and a way forward to move the economy and their business forward.

Penn also shared that he was completely disturbed by the issue of sewerage disposal, which remains a challenge in his district.

“I’m disappointed with the issue with sewerage particularly in my community. We see now we’re still, after six years; this administration is in the planning stages,” Penn said. “[We’re] planning to put out a tender, we’re planning to sign a contract, we’re planning to do XYZ, and not a dime has been spent in the Eighth District in terms of sewerage over the last six years.”

Penn said the issue was very disheartening for residents who continue to endure the effects and impacts of what has been happening.

“The money is there,” Penn insisted. “We saw where the monies from the ports were reallocated to the government with only just under $2 million dollars left, but still the monies cannot be deposited on the ground where we could see the results of the monies that are being budgeted for the sewerage.”