ULP View : Relying on the Genius of the people

[Excerpts from Independence Day Address 2025 by the Hon. Prime Minister]
Friday, November 7, 2025


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WE HAVE DONE PRETTY WELL

Fellow Vincentians, out of the fever of our history, we have built a nation of high quality through our own efforts and the helpful solidarity of our friends and allies overseas — including some who had hitherto been our historical oppressors.

What we have achieved thus far is absolutely amazing! To be sure, difficulties and challenges still weigh us down; they arise from our own inherent vulnerabilities and fragilities, from external and internal sources, and sometimes from nature itself — which otherwise provides the basis for our sustenance.

Taken as a whole, we have done pretty well; and we have a future of immense possibilities, despite limitations, ahead of us. On this, our 46th anniversary of the reclamation of independence, we have good reason to celebrate and are justified, overwhelmingly, to assert that we are on the right track.


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COLLECTIVE GENIUS OF OUR PEOPLE

Over the years, the collective genius of our people has ensured that we have not only survived but thrived against seemingly insurmountable odds. Our resilience and creativity in life, living, and production have been a marvel to others.

Repeatedly, we have been able to summon this collective genius and embrace fresh hopefulness, not despair. We have arrived at a settled commitment to triumph and advance — always in concert with leadership that possesses the requisite energy and will, vision and skill, inclusive of its ability to draw out of our people their goodness, high quality, and nobility, which the people may not yet know they possess.

Our people’s collective genius has built and improved home-made tools; fashioned beautiful music from steel drums; constructed lovely houses with abundant local material and the hands and brains of skilled workers; produced tasty, nutritious foods and a selective cuisine of quality; ploughed our land, traversed our seas, welcomed and provided quality services to our visitors; traded in goods; migrated and sent back remittances from abroad to build our economy; danced, laughed, and entertained; engaged in sports and leisure; worshipped our God joyously in prayer and song; cared for our young, the disadvantaged, the elderly, and the infirm; and buried our dead with touching solemnity and a celebration of their lives.


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ROLES FOR EVERYONE

In all these endeavours, and more, teachers have taught; leaders have led; parents have parented; our elderly have guided; our young have been growing gloriously; our public servants have served; our nurses and doctors have tended the sick; the police and jurists have helped to keep the peace; our farmers and fisherfolk have farmed and fished productively for our food and for export.

Workers have kept the wheels of industry turning and the construction sites buzzing with activity; and our prophets have prophesied and taught us about the gift of God’s amazing grace and mercy.

Amidst all of this, our women have been exemplary as mothers, partners, and producers — our rocks, our glue that holds us together with our fathers. Our women and men, simply and profoundly, have been history-makers.


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TOWARDS A FIRST-WORLD NATION STATUS

It is from this collective, unconquerable source that we must draw to build upon our existing strong foundations in life, living, and production — to shape and construct a first-world nation of a special type in our Caribbean by 2040, within a period of fifteen years from now. The future is ours to own.

In this quest to uplift further our future and to enhance our possibilities, everyone has a constructive role to play through disciplined, committed work and social solidarity. Central in this regard is a nurturing family in which the children’s welfare is paramount.

In the society at large, good neighborliness in every material particular is more than ever required for our nation’s advancement. The banishment of criminality and lawlessness must be an all-of-society priority.

Our robust, competitive politics, too, must not descend into intolerance, hatred, bile, anger, hubris, and rank divisiveness. Particularly at this time of heightened political competition, it is necessary and desirable that we aspire to civil and truthful discourses, even as we robustly promote or defend our political stances or choices.


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OUR GENIUS MEETS THE CHALLENGES

It is this genius of the people — in communion with creative, strong, and visionary leadership — that has brought us safely through some extremely challenging circumstances over the past five years.

We have been buffeted and battered by the ill-winds of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to 2021; the volcanic eruptions in April 2021; Hurricane Elsa in July 2021; the knock-on economic effects of the exacerbated global turmoil consequent upon the start of the Ukraine–Russia war in February 2022; Hurricane Beryl in July 2024; and the elevated price increases of recent months arising from the external convulsions in the global economy.


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The Prime Minister concluded by affirming that despite trials and tribulations, St. Vincent and the Grenadines continues to move forward — strengthened by the collective genius, resilience, and spirit of its people.