Astwood responds to State Address; PNP Government slapping its name on PDM Projects he says

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, March 1, 2023 –  The People’s Democratic Movement is accusing the governing PNP party of laying claim to projects that they didn’t carry out. In a response to the State of the State Address broadcast Monday February 27th Edwin Astwood, Opposition Leader said it was his party, in their governing capacity, that really did the work.

“We heard the Premier take credit for many projects that the previous administration did, his role was only to cut the ribbons, nothing else.”

Astwood listed the projects that he says the PDM did the real work on, they included:

• The COVID-19 vaccine program;
• Travel portal;
• Mental Health Facility;
• Agriculture Policy;
• Farmers Market and;
• School gardens.

It was in fact the PDM government which jump-started the COVID-19 vaccination program months before the rest of the Caribbean before they were voted out 14 to 1; they also oversaw the creation of the TCI Travel Portal in September 2020. It was the PNP though who took over both those measures and kept the vaccine program running throughout 2021 to present.

It was also the PDM, through Astwood himself as the Minister of Health Agriculture Sports & Human Services, that instituted the Agriculture Policy and the School Gardens Program in 2018/2019 and promised to begin construction on the Providenciales Farmers Market in 2020, he said.

The PDM also budgeted $300,000 for the completion of construction on the mental health facility in Grand Turk in the 2020/21 budget year, he said.

Astwood maintained that the Premier had nothing to with any of these projects and rejected the ‘delivery’ mantra with: “Mr. Premier you have not delivered.” It was a direct response to the Premier’s monday night hook “We are delivering for you” in the State of The State Address.