On October 27, 1979, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was recognised as an independent nation and raised its own flag for the first time. Growing up, before I understood what that meant, I knew how it sounded. Every Wednesday afternoon in October at St. Mary’s RC School, we learned Vincentian songs, line by line: “Our Nation Is Born,” “We Are Out to Build a New Saint Vincent,” “Saint Vincent, My Homeland,” until those songs were part of us.
As we reflect on forty-seven years, the question is not whether we are independent in law. We are. It is whether we have built a country that lets us shape our own future for our own people.
We are a country of approximately 100,000 people running our own schools, elections and airports. Our people rise at dawn, keep our families and economy going and do it again the next day. Vincentians have become nurses, teachers, engineers and business owners making their mark in almost every nook and cranny across the globe. That is something we must be proud of.
Our population is shrinking, but Vincentians leaving is not the problem. A confident country sends its people into the world. The real problem is why the traffic mostly runs one way. Imagine a country where Vincentians go out, make their mark and return, and others arrive, build their lives here, eager to become Vincentians themselves. That is the pride I want: a country people choose, not one they cannot wait to leave.
That requires fair, stable and predictable systems, and this is where our celebration needs honesty too. Our VINLEC bill, our economy and our state land sales all tell the same story. We depend too much on outside forces, and we sell what we could keep.
This month’s fuel surcharge is 86.71 cents per kWh, up from 54.90 cents in March 2026. Most of our electricity depends on imported fuel, so every swing in world oil prices lands on every household and business. VINLEC says it is expanding solar and battery storage, but customers should be told what it will cost, how it will reach our bills and how much the surcharge is expected to fall. Until we see the numbers, we cannot know whether solar ends our dependence on outside forces or only changes what we depend on.
The same forces shaped the banana era. Even then, we imported fuel and food, and our living depended on a guaranteed UK market. When preferential treatment of bananas ended, we switched to tourism and remittances, which are decided largely by economies far away. We changed the commodity, but not the structure.
Earlier this year, Chatham Bay on Union Island was sold for approximately EC$54 million. The government says the money helps reduce debt, which stood at 113 percent of GDP in 2025, but EC$54 million is about 1.5 percent of our public debt of more than EC$3.5 billion. The land is gone; the debt remains. While the buyer is named as AHRA LLC, its owners, the valuation, and the conservation terms have not been published. This is not one party’s habit: the previous government sold 51 acres at Mount Wynne to Sandals for EC$41.66 million. State land should earn lasting revenue for Vincentians, and every deal should be public, whoever governs.
If we are careless with our independence, the next form of colonisation will come, not with ships and flags but as investors holding title deeds. I am not against investors; we need them, but nobody needs to rule a country they can simply own.
As AI advances, jobs will become less certain and those who own the land, the businesses and the technology will increasingly control what happens. “Investment will bring jobs” cannot be our strategy. Jobs are the promise; ownership is the guarantee. Our foreign policy must negotiate not only for investors to come, but for Vincentians to share in what they build: co-investment stakes, a national wealth fund and a path for small family businesses to grow into established companies. Vincentians must own more of our paradise and more of the world beyond it.
I believe we are better than the systems we have built around ourselves, and the proof is how Vincentians perform wherever they go. When I see our people abroad raise the blue, gold and green with its three diamonds, I feel it and I want every Vincentian to feel that.
So here’s my birthday wish to you, my beautiful Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: keep the flag, the songs and the pride. Let’s build, and demand of our leaders, a country that sends its people out to make their mark, welcomes the world in and gives everyone a reason to say “I am a proud Vincentian.”
You can contact Kenna Questelles at [email protected].
