~ His explanations being disputed ~
MARIGOT--The Collectivité's Cabinet Director Alex Richards refuted on Thursday allegations that the speech delivered by new President of the Collectivité Alain Richardson at his inauguration on April 1 was plagiarised from a speech made by Prime Minister Luc Adolphe Tiao of Burkina Faso, Africa, in November 2011.
The nearly one-hour Declaration of General Policy speech delivered by Richardson last Sunday outlined the new RRR government's objectives in several domains for the next five years.
The resulting furore has engulfed the French side, with media and Internet bloggers lambasting Richards, who reportedly was responsible for the preparation of the speech, for letting down the President.
It was not clear whether Alain Richardson knew that the text he was reading was not originally-written, but reports indicate he was unaware of it.
The revelation comes as an embarrassment to the new president after only a week in office and places the credibility of the government's Cabinet Director under question, particularly as Richards was dragged over the coals in 2006 for basing St. Martin's tourism plan on the plan for Nièverie, France, when he was Tourism Director.
Similarities between the two speeches were discovered via the Internet after various persons had commented on "unusual" wording in the speech at the inauguration ceremony.
There has been no statement or indication to date of intended action by President Richardson concerning the controversy and attempts by The Daily Herald to contact him by telephone were unsuccessful up to press time.
Richards sought to address the controversy by way of a press release on Thursday, but the veracity of the information and explanations he provided are being challenged already with suggestions that he has been attempting a web of deception as part of a complex attempt at covering up wrongdoing.
"The election campaign that we conducted mobilised our entire group and we decided to call in an expert in political communication in drafting the speech for President Richardson," Richards explained in the press release. "This is not an unusual approach among political leaders and we chose specialist Pierre Marssin. We provided him with our campaign programme that had been presented to the public in recent weeks and was consistent with our analysis of the RRR group.
"As for similarities noted between the inaugural address by Alain Richardson and the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso Luc Adolphe Tiao, they are explained by the fact Pierre Marssin also wrote the speech for Mr. Tiao. There is therefore no plagiarism, and if the framework may seem similar, the main thrust of the policy that we intend to pursue for the next five years is clearly developed in the speech.
"Certain persons are blowing this up for reasons that are politically motivated, but it has no influence on the determination of the RRR group to carry out the policy for which Alain Richardson was elected.
"These controversies have no place on our roadmap and we prefer to put all our energy into developing themes of interest to the population, such as employment, purchasing power, economy, security, etc., and for which we will bring concrete solutions. Our ultimate goal is the implementation of priority measures for the satisfaction of the public interest which is at stake in this legislature."
However, a post on the Jabiru blog from a Cyriaque Pare, claiming to be the Communications Director for Prime Minister Tiao, says the General Policy Statement for the prime minister was prepared by the prime minister's office and he, the Prime Minister, "does not know Mr. Pierre Marssin."
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