Apr 15 - Picardo More Concerned About Popularity Than Doing His Job - GSD
The GSD has said that the Chief Minister’s decision to send a letter to residents of Alameda Estate is a move which “confirms the view of many that Gibraltar is being led by a politician who has a greater interest in his popularity than in doing the right thing and getting the job done.” The Chief Minister has written personally, on No. 6 letterhead, to the residents of the Estate in response, says the GSD, to the postcards sent by the Opposition seeking the views of residents on the location of the fair at Grand Parade.
The GSD says it asked the residents for their views on the fact that the Government was considering using Grand Parade for the fair in 2014, something which “was correct at the time of the Opposition’s consultation,” and which, according to the GSD, prompted Government to issue a statement confirming that the coach park had been identified as the site for the fair this year. The GSD stresses that there had been no prior public or Parliamentary pronouncement of that decision.
An Opposition spokesman commented that: “Surely the statement they issued should have been enough to put the issue to rest. Clearly, the prospect that a handful of voters might not have got the message has prompted this initiative by the Government, proving thereby that this Chief Minister is more concerned about his own political skin than with the job of leading this community responsibly.
“That a Chief Minister and not, say, one of his Ministers should be dealing with a matter such as the location of the fair speaks volumes of his and his Government’s insecurities, which is not surprising given the increasing reports of the Government’s unpopularity and the wafer thin electoral advantage that it secured at the last General Election. The use of the letterhead of Gibraltar’s highest elected public office on a local matter (however important to the residents and indeed the GSD) is at best laughable and at worst worrying. The Chief Minister should be applying himself vigorously to the matters of State such as our groaning economy (with traders and others reporting increasing losses in sales), growing expenditure and our increasingly difficult relations with Spain, all of which are extremely troubling to the wider community and not just the residents of the estate in question. The use of valuable civil service time and tax payers’ money in this manner is also of concern.
“Reminiscent of the campaign style he used during the 2011 General Election, Mr Picardo has chosen to react to the GSD flyer by writing to residents personally. Many will recall the pre-election campaign directed at individual estates by him with suggestions of a multi-storey and underground car park in Grand Parade and extensions of lifts to garage areas in other estates, to name but a few. This latest letter continues in this vein of empty shell commitments by a Government desperate to please all but failing to please most.”
