NDP VIEW -NDP offers a brighter future

(Excerpts of Political Leader of the NDP, Dr Godwin Friday’s Presentation at a Public Meeting in East Kingstown)
Our plan that we have put forward is a plan that is realistic. We have said that we are going to rebuild the economy of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Right now, we do not have a functioning economy. The agricultural sector, they have allowed it to die. Tourism is limping along. They opened one major hotel in twenty-Five (25) years. You go to the other countries in the region and you see that they have moved way faster than we have done. That is why wages are higher, because there is a greater demand for the talent that is there. And that is why our young people look to other countries in the OECS and they see greener pastures. And we say, well, why not St. Vincent and the Grenadines?
In fact, what they have done; when there are major projects, they bring workers from overseas. It’s the same with the port. It happened with Sandals when they came. It is happening now with the hospital out at Arnos Vale. When we have people here, who are desperate to find work. And their excuse is that they don’t have the skills. Well, why in God’s name, after twenty-five (25) years in office, you’re telling me you can’t teach people how to bend wire, you can’t teach people how to lay bricks and blocks, you can’t teach people how to drive heavy machinery, you can’t find plumbers and electricians, you can’t even find labourers to work on a project. They can’t be serious.
They have brought this country to a situation now where we are being left behind in the region. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is falling behind the rest of the region. The reason for that is because of the government we have in place. It is not because of some special characteristic of the people of this country. We are hardworking. We are as talented and gifted as anybody else in the region. We want progress. We want prosperity for our people. We want a brighter future for our young people. We want them to use their talents and gifts here to develop St. Vincent and the Grenadines; because of the government in office, that has not materialized.
We cannot risk another five years of that because what will happen, St. Vincent and the Grenadines will become a failed state. And you will have those who are standing up and bragging and self-congratulating and always talking about the promises rather than what they have delivered. We have to change that.
What you want is a government that listens to the people, who puts the interests of the people first and foremost, who look at the farmers. And say, we understand that you have been left behind. The roads that were built to get you to your farms have not been cleaned; they have not been repaired in twenty-five (25) years. There is no marketing mechanism to help you to market your plantains.
You have a situation where the fisher folk cannot find markets and they cannot produce in a way that makes them more prosperous and that has been twenty-five (25) years of this ULP government. We have to do better than that. I want to say to the people of this country, we have a plan in place to bring the economy of St. Vincent and the Grenadines truly into the 21st century. You heard Dr. Shallow talked about the youth economy or what we call the new economy to build those areas of the economy that we have never focused on before to create more opportunities.
For the people in the fishing industry, I say to you, we value your contribution. We believe in the productive benefit of the work that you do, we will put the measures in place to make you succeed. Come with us in the New Democratic Party. Let us build a more thriving fishing industry and a more prosperous country. I want to say to the farmers, similarly, we understand the plight that you have, the challenges that you are meeting now, the deaf ears of the present Minister of Agriculture and the lack of interest from the present government because they don’t see value in what you do. They look at the farmers as though they are the least of the least. I see you as the mighty of the mightiest. You can build St. Vincent and the Grenadines and I want to work with you to do so.
We see in the young people of this country the true potential for the future of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Lavern talked earlier about the youth guarantee pledge that we made to our young people. What we have said is to the young people of this country, we understand that you feel you are locked out of the economy. You leave Community College four or five years and you can’t even find a part-time job. Those who have dropped out of school for whatever reason, you cannot find work. And nobody in the government seems to give a ‘damn’.
So we have said this, we will work to build an economy to create more opportunities. So hopefully you will find work. If it’s a situation where you don’t have the training, the skills in order, to find the jobs here, we will create a training system in this country with Technical and Vocational Education at a higher level so that you can have the training necessary to take those jobs.
We will create an agency that helps to match your training with the jobs that are available so that the young people are not left alone to fend for themselves, to listen to somebody telling them along the grapevine that they must go and talk to somebody in an office to try to find a job.