Opposition Senator Keisal Melissa Peters has launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday, accusing the head of government of delivering false statements to Parliament and deceiving the public regarding state support for tertiary students and electricity relief. Speaking on Star Radio’s “The People’s Forum,” Senator Peters publicly challenged the Prime Minister’s assertion that all eligible Vincentian students who met basic matriculation requirements had been awarded government tuition scholarships for the current academic year.
Categorizing the Prime Minister’s statement in the House of Assembly as an outright falsehood, Peters asserted that multiple qualified applicants, including final-year university students with proven academic standings, had their funding applications summarily rejected by the New Democratic Party (NDP) administration.
The opposition senator revealed that the scholarship rejections have forced affected families to take out high-interest private bank loans to ensure their children could complete their final year of university studies. According to Peters, parents of rejected students are prepared to go on record to refute the government’s official narrative and establish that their children met all matriculation criteria but were turned away due to political targeting or severe fiscal cutbacks.
She pointed to official budgetary records showing that the administration capped the tuition scholarship allocation at $30 million in the 2026 budget estimates—matching the baseline estimate of the previous year but ignoring the fact that actual expenditure under the prior Unity Labor Party (ULP) administration reached $50 million to accommodate over 3,000 students. This decision led to more than 500 fewer tuition scholarships being issued this year, alongside a sharp drop in national scholarship awards from 19 down to just eight.
Beyond the educational grant controversy, Senator Peters broadened her critique to address utility relief, accusing Prime Minister Friday of misleading the public during a May 27 national address regarding promised electricity bill discounts from the St. Vincent Electricity Services Limited (VINLEC). Peters claimed the announcement represented part of a broader pattern of deceptive communication by the 11-month-old government, comparing it to statements made by Gender Affairs Minister Leavon Velox. Minister Velox had publicly praised the Promoting Youth Microenterprises (PRIME) program for empowering female entrepreneurs during an international forum, while omitting the fact that the administration had completely removed the program and its funding line from the 2026 budget estimates.
Peters argued that these deceptive public statements reflect a systemic betrayal of the nation’s youth, who had supported the NDP in the previous general election based on campaign promises of expanded opportunities, job creation, and enhanced social safety nets.
She argued that rather than building upon established development programs, the government has systematically gutted critical social and educational initiatives, including the national youth orchestra, the mathematics improvement program, and regional athletic infrastructure development. The senator called on citizens to scrutinize executive claims against documented budgetary figures, warning that the political consequences of unfulfilled commitments and misleading statements are already being felt by families across the nation.
