In 2009, Astaphan resigned from Cabinet and began publically expressing his dissatisfaction with Dr. Douglas’ leadership. He complained and continues to complain about the high cost of living, the high national debt, the state of crime, the Integrity in Public Life Legislation which had yet to be passed into law.
As a result, Operation Rescue was birthed and others have joined Astaphan in calling for better leadership.
In an exclusive interview with MiyVue.com, Astaphan expressed his belief that the operation has thus far been successful in mounting pressure on Dr. Douglas.
“The things he has been saying and doing I think are indicative of a man under pressure. He might not admit it but he is certainly under pressure so Operation Rescue is certainly making an impact on him and on other people. As much as they would like to downgrade it and degrade it and disrespect it, the utterances that have been coming out of his mouth recently are even worse than before. That is a sign of a man under pressure and I will tell you, the pressure is going to increase, it is not going to decrease. Because people are suffering and this is going to be a long hard summer for the people of this country.”
Astaphan reminded of some of the issues which the operation has been speaking about on its platform and about which others have expressed deep concern and reiterated that Dr. Douglas has indeed begun feeling pressure.
“We are just about under IMF structural adjustment, he is going to get a composition with his creditors, that means a hair cut, lowering the interests rates and extending the terms. That’s a hair cut he’ll be asking our creditors to take. That is a sign of an economy in serious difficulty of a debtor who is not able to meet its demand. That is the state of the country. Don’t mind when you see people going around and telling you all kinds of things. They can’t handle the bills, they cant handle the VAT, they cant handle electricity problems, they cant handle crime. A lot of them make a lot of noise in the say and they haul in at night (because) they are afraid to go out. So all of the talk and the rhetoric doesn’t remove the fact facts are there and facts have a very persistent way about them. They just don’t disappear like that. Yes he is feeling the pressure.”