PDM Deputy Leader says Premier out of touch

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, February 25, 2022 – “The Premier’s State of the State Address did not address what the average citizen needs” said Deputy Leader of the Opposition Robert Been in a statement issued on Monday where he accused the Premier of being “out of touch.”

“You took office knowing that the country was not only experiencing a health crisis, but an economic one, and yet there has been no tangible help to residents, specifically in their personal incomes and there has been no investment made in healthcare. These were two of the important crises, but they remain inadequately addressed and it appears that the PNP is out of touch and self-serving,”Been said in his response.

He maintained that healthcare and personal income were of utmost importance.

Been challenged the PNP administration on the point; what good is a break in customs duties on building supplies when the average  resident was fighting to make ends meet… and would unlikely have any money to build anything.

“It is concerning that the Premier is talking about giving us a break on customs duties to buy building supplies, but the reality is that Islanders don’t have the money to buy land, and then subsequently, to build. Every dollar the average person is earning is going toward basic essentials.”

Been also criticized the four per cent increase in salaries for civil servants as too meager, urging the PNP to give the people something they could actually feel, saying the increase would be swallowed up by the NIB increases on April 1st.

Been closed his statement by asking ‘whether there would be help on groceries and lowered gas prices and improved health care.’

He expressed that the response was geared at helping the PNP see the concerns of the average Turks and Caicos people.