The Opposition Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) continues to hammer away at government’s decision to dismantle the Tourist Board and replace it with the Destination Management Organization (DMO).
The following is the latest news release opposing the implementation of the new tourism promotional body:
We are seeing our elected Premier and his Cabinet wage war on our democracy. Democracy as I know it is a government that represents the will of its people. This continued advancement of the Destination Management Organization (DMO) does not reflect what the super majority of the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands want.
This is beginning to look like a non-independent dictatorship!
We have seen where ill-advised mergers of state and corporate power have turned countries into corporate kleptocracies, establishing a system of socialism for the rich and capitalism for the poor. And this is exactly the road that the Premiere and his Cabinet are heading down.
Our people are saying no, but the Premier is saying yes. I had expected the “Empire to strike back”, and the “deep state” to exert its power, to force this on the people.
Now we see in the news headlines that without Rhyme, reason, or any liaison with the Public, this current PNP regime is taking it upon itself to recruit foreign staff to head our Tourist Industry, with no regard to the existing qualified Turks & Caicos Islanders currently employed with the Tourist Board, nor any regard to other qualified Turks & Caicos Islanders working privately in our Tourist Industry.
This can only be seen as an affront and insult to the Tourist Board staff and the TCI public.
Many years of knowledge of research, development and training have been undertaken by Tourist Board Staff Members, allowing them to obtain critical experiences, knowledge, and abilities in the Tourism field, and now all of this achievement and record has been washed down the drain by this decision of this current PNP Administration.
These staff members who are been ‘kicked to the curb’ are the only experts known to the Caribbean region and the World who fully know and understand TCI’s History, Culture, and Tourism Products.
From last year’s budget, I have been constantly sounding the alarm about this DMO move, but the Premier and his government painted the picture as the Leader of the Opposition and his Appointed member just being political, and being villains in objecting to this move.
The country has been seeing that in every speech, and every address, the Premier was trying to shift attention from his government’s object failures to highlighting the excellent performance of the Tourist Industry.
The stories that they choose to speak to, and will continue to speak to, have been only those that advance their political narrative. This is most likely the reason for all the silence from them because there is very little good that they have done for our people and our country as a whole.
Why don’t the Premier and his government spend any time talking about crime, Illegal immigration, Healthcare, the cost of living, difficulty in doing business with the government and accessing government services, and the state of our environment?
Simple, because those stories do not advance the narrative that Turks and Caicos Islanders are “living their best lives.”
Regardless of your political affiliation, I am sure that you can see that his government does not have a plan or vision that includes TCI people, and this DMO decision is a clear indication of a lack of vision.
We are being systematically sold out and replaced in our Country.
The sad thing is that the PNP Government is leading this “Get rid of the Turks & Caicos Islander Agenda”. We Elected officials, and appointed members cannot sit idly by, and collect salaries from the people’s treasury, while our people are kicked to Curb. If we truly care about our people and their destiny, we all must speak out and oppose this decision.
I am calling on the Members of Parliament to speak out. In particular, all elected representatives cannot remain silent as lambs, betray the people who voted for them, and expect it to be taken kindly.
I am very grateful for our people and we have to serve them and their collective interest. My job is not to be popular amongst the TCI elites but to represent the interests of my people. My PDM team, other interest groups, and other concerned citizens are not going to give up or back down on this issue, as the Premier and his Cabinet so expect us to.
While I am cognizant of the important role the private sector plays in the success of the country, I am a strong believer that there should be no corporate control of government services and government funds, the people’s money.
As we all know company directors are loyal to the company's interests to maximize its benefits, hence the government should not give them substantial power as gatekeepers.
We see now that America is in a crisis of corporate capture of democratic government, where the economic power of corporations has been translated into political power with disastrous effects on people’s lives.
In his book, Captured: The Corporate Infiltration of American Democracy, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse warns that “corporations of vast wealth and remorseless staying power have moved into their politics to seize for themselves advantages that can be seized only by control over the government.”
The book illustrates what he calls, the “immense pressure deployed by the corporate sector in our government.” He stated that “We must rebalance our democracy by changing the rules to limit the power of money over government and empower people to engage politically as a countervailing force.”
We in the TCI cannot let the current Premier and his Cabinet take us further down this road.
Remember it doesn’t have to be this way, just because Premier Missick and His Cabinet have given up on Turks & Caicos Islanders, we should not as well.
As we progress in this year under my leadership, the PDM will continue to show the whole country, all our people (PDMs, PNPs, Independents, Non-voters) that there is a better way. We can grow an economy that works for all, we can transform healthcare for the better, we can develop local businesses, we can grow the already established business, and we can educate our people, yes we can and we know how to do it.
We will save the whole country no community, and no Island left behind.