(Excerpts of Dr Godwin Friday\u2019s Presentation at a recently held Public Meeting in Marriaqua)
This election is not about the next five years. It is about the future of St Vincent and the Grenadines. That is why it is so important that we get it right and why we are working so hard to encourage every person who wants to bring change in this country to go forward and take the responsibility and make that change happen.
I know in this constituency we have had a hard time electorally over the past years. A lot of people voted for the other side. A lot of people in the last election voted for Jimmy. But I would say, the future is with Philip and the New Democratic Party, not with Jimmy and the ULP. So, for those of you who may have had that relationship in the past, and you may have good feelings towards the gentleman, the point of the matter is, the choice that you have to make is so important that you can’t put those things ahead of the future of your children and the future of your country.
The future of the country lies with the New Democratic Party, with myself, Dr. Friday as leader and this fantastic team that we have put together to deliver for the people in this country. I saw someone earlier in the crowd tonight, and she said to me, \u2018Friday, I see a lot of people here who you would characterize as labour people. They supported the other party.\u2019 But there’s nobody who is a labour person or any other person. We are all Vincentians, and we are looking for an opportunity to make life better for all of us. The New Democratic Party is offering that opportunity.
Ask yourself, have we done better over the past 10 or 15 years? You cannot honestly answer that question and say yes because the country has gone backwards. The present administration has held the country back so you have a choice to make. I want to ask our supporters, those of you who have held firm in this constituency of Marriaqua against the odds, you have stayed the course. I want you to embrace your brothers and sisters who may have voted elsewhere and who are now saying, I want to make a change. Embrace them. Tell them, come, let us work together so we can build a brighter future in St. Vincent and the Grenadines for all of us.
When we are in government; we are a government for everybody. That is the way I am made up. That is my nature. I am not going to change that for politics. I am looking out for everybody. But there is something that we need to make everyone in this country understand. The fundamental difference between us in the New Democratic Party and what we have seen over the years in the ULP.
The fundamental difference is this, and you have the record to judge them on, is that we in the New Democratic Party, we are looking out for your interest. We are looking for the ordinary person. I want to help people to put bread on their table, to put shoes on their children’s feet. I want when exam time comes, they could pay for the subjects. When they’re preparing for school, they don’t have to go and line up to a politician’s door and beg them as though they are beneath them. I want to have people to be able to provide for themselves like we used to; to have not just the desire and the will, but the means to provide for their families. As I said sometime ago, if your roof is leaking, you want to be able to fix it. You don’t have to go beg Friday or Major, for a sheet of galvanize.
That is what I am striving to bring, to empower our people. I believe in every single Vincentian. I don’t believe I’m smarter and better than anybody else. Somebody says, if you’re in a room and you think you’re the smartest person, you’re in the wrong room. What you should do is surround yourself with people as smart as you, smarter than you so you can learn from them. They can help you to achieve things. That is what I believe I have done in the New Democratic Party. We have people here in Philip Jackson. We have people sitting on this stage, people who are elsewhere but doing the work of the party, who are very capable that I know that once we form government, I can say this is your ministry, go and get the job done. You don’t have to wait on me. That is the way we’re to go forward. It doesn\u2019t matter who you are. One man cannot run this country and certainly you can\u2019t run it forever.
For the farmers, I want to say to you, in the New Democratic Party, you have a party who believes in you. You have hope on the horizon. We are going to make sure that the farmers in this country have what they need to succeed.
I was talking to a farmer earlier today. He told me he lost nine sheep and goats. Somebody came and stole them. So, you go to the police and you get no redress. I asked. Is this the first time? \u2018No, this is not the first time.\u2019 I asked him, over the years, how many you lose? Like 10, 15, 20? He said, more than that. Over five years, he lost over 30 animals and no redress. We have to do something about that. We will have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to thieving of people\u2019s, animals and crops. And the upholder is as bad as the thief and all of will be held accountable. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Excerpts of Dr Godwin Friday\u2019s Presentation at a recently held Public Meeting in Marriaqua) This election is not about the next five years. It is about the future of St Vincent and the Grenadines. That is why it is so important that we get it right and why we are working so hard to encourage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":43350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[257],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ndp-view"],"yoast_head":"\n