St Vincent’s 44th Independence Parade
The St Vincent government has decided that the 2023 independence parade will take place on October 27 at 8 a.m.
A formal request was made to modify the timing of the independence parade in St. Vincent, specifically shifting it from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
According to Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, he was informed through a letter from Superintendent Benzel Samuel regarding a proposed modification. According to Gonsalves, the rationale for the request stemmed from the abnormally elevated temperatures that have been impacting the nation in recent months.
However, on Sunday, speaking on WEFM’s Issue at Hand Programme, Gonsalves said that while the police made a convincing case for a time adjustment given the previous severe heat and the prognosis for the 27th, it is just too late to make the necessary changes for this year.
”People have already fixed up programs up in the north windward area. There is the matter of the Madungo festival; people have other activities that have already been arranged. Diplomats come in on the evening of the 26th, then leave on the evening of the 27th. So there are too many things to have been done in this hurried way. So it’s 8:00 a.m. in the morning, as usual at Victoria Park”.
Gonsalves said consideration will be given for the police to make the actual parade a little shorter.
“We will take the parade time into consideration, and certainly with my speech, I have to make it as concise as possible in all the circumstances and to be mindful that people will be standing up for a period of time in the heat”.
As much as the police have raised it, given the extra heat, we need to pay greater attention to these things, Gonsalves said.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines is the final country in the Windward Island chain to achieve independence from the United Kingdom.
In the year 1969, the British government awarded statehood to St Vincent and the Grenadines, so conferring upon them the authority to govern their internal affairs while remaining under the colonial rule of the British. In a momentous event on October 27, 1979, Queen Elizabeth II bestowed independence upon St Vincent and the Grenadines.
