KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC—Outstanding businessman and former legislator Ormiston Arnold “Ken” Boyea has died at 87. Boyea, a primary cousin of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, died at his residence in Prospect after a interval of in poor health well being.
He was elected a member of parliament for Central Kingstown on the now-ruling Unity Labour Occasion (ULP) ticket in 1998 and served on the opposition benches till 2001.
Nevertheless, by 2001, Boyea had fallen out with the ULP and based the Folks’s Progressive Motion (PPPM). The PM contested the overall election that 12 months however did not win a seat, receiving 2.6 p.c of the favored votes.
The ULP received the elections below Gonsalves’ management and has remained in workplace with him on the helm since. The PPM grew to become defunct someday after the 2001 polls.
Nevertheless, Boyea loved extra success in enterprise. The skilled engineer served because the chief engineer at St. Vincent Electrical energy Companies (VINLEC) when the Commonwealth Improvement Company (CDC) owned the lone electrical energy firm.
Nevertheless, in 1977, businessman P.H. Veira headhunted him to handle the East Caribbean Flour Mills (ECFM), of which the Vieras are a serious shareholder. However that relationship ended sourly, with Boyea later suing the corporate for wrongful dismissal.
Boyea introduced the KFC franchise to St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 1986 and held it till 2015, when the restaurant closed after months of buyer complaints concerning the meals high quality.
Boyea blamed the delay within the ULP’s promised new metropolis at Arnos Vale for the closure of KFC, an assertion that Gonsalves rejected.
The businessman invested EC$16 million (One EC greenback = 0.37 cents) in a brand new constructing at Arnos Vale that housed a KFC restaurant. The KFC franchise has since been awarded to a brand new entity.
Boyea was the first-ever Ernst and Younger Entrepreneur of the Yr for Barbados and the Jap Caribbean and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Entrepreneur of the Yr in 1996.
Boyea additionally represented nation cricket and was a nationwide garden tennis doubles champion (in partnership with Allie Lynch).
