KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (CMC) – The leader of the main Opposition New Democratic Party (NDP), Arnhim Eustace, has described as a “vicious” act the decision by the St Vincent and the Grenadines Government to evict the Cobblestone Inn from the state-owned building which it has been occupying for the past 30 years.

The state-owned National Properties Ltd gave the operators of the resort two months to evacuate the premises.

No reasons have been advanced for the move but the tenant, Vincentian entrepreneur, Ann Joshua, who has been occupying the property for the last 30 years, said she was up to date on her EC$24,000 monthly rent.

In a July 12 letter to Cobblestone Inn, located in the heart of the capital, attorney Grahame Bollers, who is representing the state-owned entity responsible for the historic building where the hotel is located, gave no reason why his client wanted the premises back.

Over the weekend, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves defended the action of his administration, but Eustace, speaking on his weekly radio programme Monday, said the eviction was one of the nastiest acts ever committed by a Government against its own people.

“[It is] a vicious, and as some people like to say, bad-minded, act,” he told listeners, repeating an early allegation that the tourism sector had declined under the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) Administration.

He said St Vincent and the Grenadines is the only Windward Island — the others being Dominica, Grenada and St Lucia — that has seen fewer visitors in 2015 than in 2000, and has the overall lowest number of visitors among the four islands during the period.

“We see the bad mind and the clear victimisation practised by this regime against people who do not support them,” Eustace said.

Eustace contrasted the eviction of Cobblestone Inn to that Buccament Bay Resort, where the Britain-born businessman, Dave Ames, last month fled the country after being summoned to court to answer tax evasion and theft charges.

The Crown is alleging that Ames, who is a naturalised Vincentian, has deprived the state of almost seven million EC dollars he collected in value added tax and pay as you earn (PAYE) deductions from his staff’s wages.

“In other words, Ames has millions of dollars from the same Government that is now evicting Ann Joshua; he left the country after an arrest warrant was put out for him. “If the law is properly applied, he should now have another charge to answer,” Eustace said.

“But here is something I quite don’t follow; the logic defeats me,” Eustace said, noting that Gonsalves said last week that Ames left the country legitimately.

Eustace further noted that Gonsalves said he was waiting to see what the prosecuting authorities will do to get Ames to return there to answer the charges.

Eustace said he wondered if Cobblestone Inn was being punished for allowing NDP supporters to use the washroom at the hotel as they participate in the demonstrations last December against the results of the last elections that the party insisted was not free and fair.

Eustace described as an “excuse” Gonsalves’ explanation on Sunday that his Government wanted an open and transparent process for determining who gets to rent the hotel.

The prime minister said on Sunday that Joshua can also make a bid.

Gonsalves also said he doesn’t want it to be said that he was allowing his cousin to rent the building for 30 years without giving someone else a chance.

Eustace, however, noted that Joshua has been renting the building 30 years, half of which was before the Gonsalves Administration came to office.

“Nobody can’t blame you and say you put your cousin there now. She has been there for 30 years under more than one administration, without the same open and democratic process you are talking about, which you yourself covered for 15 years — half of the time.

“You see, Ann’s problem, Ann’s only sin is that she is seen as not being a supporter of the ULP. But she knows her tourism, she is good at it, and she realised you have wrecked the tourism industry in this country,” Eustace said.