Kingstown St. Vincent May 11,2026- Opposition Leader Dr.Ralph Gonsalves has accused the government of failing to properly prepare for worsening water shortages in the Grenadines, claiming residents of Union Island and Mayreau were left struggling because of poor planning and weak leadership.
Speaking on the Good Morning Comrade programme on Star FM, the opposition leader said the administration had been “caught flat-footed” as drought conditions intensified across parts of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
“The ministry acted without proper leadership,” Dr Gonsalves said.
He said that the Ministry of Grenadines Affairs should have activated water distribution systems and drought-response measures earlier, particularly after warnings about worsening dry conditions.
“You have to organise with boats, you have to fill up the tanks, the containers to take down. You have to have a system for the distribution,” he said.
“All those things are in place. You just have to activate them.”
Dr Gonsalves said the situation in the southern Grenadines reflected a failure of leadership within the ministry responsible for Grenadines affairs.
“I think if Terrence Ollivierre is honest, he will tell people he dropped the ball,” he said.
The opposition leader also criticised government responses to public complaints from residents affected by the shortages.
“You could stay in town and say they have water, but if they’re down there and they have no water, how are you going to say they’re not telling the correct story?” he said.
Dr Gonsalves claimed his administration had already begun initiatives to address future drought conditions before leaving office and said he had previously warned publicly about the potential impact of changing weather patterns on water supply.
“I was trying to signal to the fellas, get this water thing right now,” he said.
The comments come days after the Central Water and Sewerage Authority confirmed that St Vincent and the Grenadines had been placed under a drought watch by the Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum (CariCOF), with reduced rainfall affecting several water systems across the country.
Government ministers have since acknowledged serious water supply challenges in the Grenadines and said emergency distribution measures were continuing, including the transportation of water by boat from mainland St Vincent to Union Island and Mayreau.
Minister of Grenadines Affairs Terrence Ollivierre recently said authorities were working alongside the CWSA and private operators to distribute water to affected communities, while Health Minister Daniel Cummings described the situation in some areas as approaching “crisis proportion”.