PM takes no action on press secretary

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent (CMC): Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves says he will not discipline his press secretary, Hans King, over a controversial comment he made on radio recently.

Earlier this month, King told a radio talk show programme that he contemplated killing someone who made malicious comments about him on the social network, Facebook.

"Hans and I spoke about it. And I would not have gone and said it on the radio having spoken to the person man to man," Gonsalves told reporters.

"But by saying what he said, (it) didn't have the effect of quelling it (but) had the effect of providing some kerosene to the little fire," Gonsalves said.

"I saw the comments which were made by the gentleman who had caused Hans King to get angry .... ." And what he said about Hans was untruthful, defamatory and, in fact, was a matter which would have warranted criminal prosecution. Because ... on the face of it, it amounted to a criminal libel, completely untrue," Gonsalves said.

Gonsalves said the person, whom he described as an opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) 'activist', had removed the post from Facebook after King reacted very robustly to him on the phone.