(Excerpts of Political Leader of the NDP, Dr. Godwin Friday’s Presentation at a Public Meeting in North Leeward)
The ULP government in office has done nothing, absolutely nothing, to develop the potential in North Leeward.
You hear me talking about the four pillars of the economy. We’re talking about rebuilding agriculture, one of the pillars. Not in the way it has been in the past, but we know that there is a future for it. We have to do things a little differently. We don’t abandon it. We find new ways to make it work, to make it more productive and to give the people of this wonderful part of the country hope and opportunity, so that they can make a living and support themselves.
They don’t have to be here waiting for a politician to come and try to tell them that all they worth at election time is something in an envelope. Then after the election is gone, they forget about them again.
The people of this constituency, the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, we have seen enough. Twenty-five years and you look around and you’re still looking for hope from this government. That is not going to happen because they cannot deliver. Why? Because they have no intention of serving the best interests of the people of this constituency. We have to do better than that.
So, what do we have in store for this wonderful part of the country? We will develop that plan that we have in the New Democratic Party. We aren’t doing things off the top of our head. We have a plan for the development of the north of the country. For too long, the people above the Dry River, they treated them as though they are a separate part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
We are saying that we have a plan in place. And with your help, we will make it even more effective to transform the northern part of the country. We are not going to forget agriculture.
For the fisherfolk, we say to you, hope is coming. You know, you’re not going to have a situation where you have a fisheries complex here in Chateaubelair, and (they) leave it just to rot down; no use to the fisherfolk.
We are saying to you, yes, we are going to revive agriculture, a traditional pillar of the economy. But for the fisherfolk, there is hope coming. We are going to help you to become more efficient, more productive in the catching of fish and in the marketing of it. There is hope for the fisherfolk.
But beyond that, we have to think about a vision for the future of this part of the country, for the future of St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a whole. And that vision includes transforming this constituency with its vast tourism potential. Also, in North Windward, we have looked at some of the specific things that we can do, but we’re not going to tell them everything. But rest assured, we have a plan for the transformation of the northern part of the country: to make it more diverse economically; to make it more prosperous; to create more jobs and opportunities beyond just fishing, beyond just agriculture; to harvest the most wonderful part, the most beautiful part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
We must capitalise upon the potential that we have in this part of the country. We must develop it to create more opportunities for the people. And Dr. Shallow has outlined that in his presentation here. And there is promise of more to come. Shevern has done likewise, some here, but also in her constituency. This is not a fly-by-night thing. It’s a plan that we have for the development of this constituency.
I know as well that in addition to all the things that we’re going to do, that you’re struggling to make ends meet because of the cost-of-living crisis that has gripped the country, and is hurting so many families. We will bring relief from that. We will create more jobs and better paying jobs in this country. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is behind everybody else. Except in all the things that we don’t want to be counted for, like sexual abuse and violent crime. We don’t want that. But that is the thing for which St. Vincent is known.
Opportunities for Young People
What we want to do is to create a prosperous St. Vincent and the Grenadines where we can have better jobs and jobs that pay people, so that our young professionals will not have to leave. And this is what is happening. Our young professionals, IT specialists, engineers, they get a couple of years of work experience here and then they go on to St. Kitts, to Antigua and elsewhere, to find greener pastures because they make more money there. A lot of them, they have student loans to pay off, they’re in debt; so, they have to go where they could make a better living so that they could pay off their debt.
For the young people, especially for the young professionals, I want to give you hope. It should not take three generations for one person to own a home; one to buy the land, one to build it, the other one to pay for it. We have to find a way to help the young people to find a way towards home ownership for themselves and their families, so they could establish very quickly and build a property-owning democracy in St. Vincent and the Grenadines again. That was taken away, that dream was taken away from our young people by this present administration. We have to give them that hope. That is why we in the New Democratic Party, we have put forward a plan that is the economic plan for the development of the country. Because you cannot beg your way out of poverty.