NDP DOES NOT CARE FOR THE POOR, THE WORKING PEOPLE, AND THE YOUTH
THE ISSUE
The opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) has demonstrated, overwhelmingly, that it does not truly care for the poor, the working people, and the youth. The NDP’s fundamental lack of care for the disadvantaged, the dispossessed, the lowly-paid, the marginalised, and young people is evident in their rhetoric, their philosophy, and their deeds, historically and at the present time.
Meanwhile, the NDP is trumping for some rogue capitalists, the merchants, a grabbing group of local lawyers and accountants avid for personal gain, the wannabe sellers of our passports and citizenship, and, most of all, the self-seeking group of the petit bourgeoisie within their party and their hangers-on, including pathetic fellow-travellers.
The current leadership of the NDP are arrogant, bombastic towards, and disconnected from, the urban poor and working people; and contemptuous to the peasantry and the rural folks generally. Even those in the NDP who came from the poor and working people have distanced themselves from their own class origins and sensibilities, save and except for opportunistic, demagogic effect. They have no genuine empathy, no heart, no caring feeling for the least among us. They are fakes, through and through; they are a standing danger to the common good.
All of this is evident in the NDP’s historical and present-day wrong-headed and uncaring approaches to the following, among other things: Minimum wages and social protection; salaries and wages generally; taxation; pensions and NIS; public assistance; housing for the poor and working people; education for the poor and working people at the early childhood, special education, technical and vocational, secondary, college, and university levels; the YES and SET programmes; assistance to persons suffering from natural disasters; access to affordable, quality health care; infrastructure projects for the benefit of all the country; pulling down the good name of SVG; lacking ambition for SVG in a foreign policy which benefits our people; young entrepreneurs; and young persons’ sporting and cultural pursuits.
MINIMUM WAGES AND WORKERS’ PROTECTION
During the near-17 years of NDP governance (July 1984 to March 2001), the NDP increased the minimum wages once. In the 24 years of the ULP, minimum wages have been increased on four occasions. The NDP complained every time that increases in the minimum wages would lead to workers being laid off, increased unemployment, and bankruptcy of businesses. None of these doomsday scenarios has occurred as a result of the ULP’s increase of minimum wages.
The NDP opposed the ULP’s more generous upgrade of the provisions of the Protection of Employment Act regarding issues of severance payments and workers’ rights. It is the NDP which refused to pay the severance payments to former estate workers at Orange Hill, Wallilabou, and Richmond; the ULP did so within months of taking office, by August 2001.
The NDP failed to look out for the public servants’ salaries and retirement benefits; instead, they looked out for the pensions of the NDP parliamentarians. It is the ULP which reclassified upwards the positions and salaries of the civil servants, teachers, and police in 2007; and secured salary increases on an ongoing basis since then; the ULP government has bult up and protected the NIS for the working people; the NDP opposed the necessary and desirable reforms at the NIS.
PUBLIC ASSISTANCE FOR THE POOR
After nearly 17 years in office, the NDP had the monthly public assistance for the poor at $50. Under the ULP it is $300 and will be increased further, soon.
Moreover, the NDP has been calling for a reduction in the numbers of persons on public assistance, currently hovering close to 5,000. What sort of NDP madness is this? Have they no heart? We must take care of the poor while helping them to get out of poverty. And poverty was rising under the NDP; it is reducing under the ULP. Recently, the NDP’s shallow one from North Leeward called for a reduction in the public assistance list. Is he crazy?
HOUSING FOR THE POOR AND WORKING PEOPLE
In 17 years in office, the NDP did not build one single house for the poor or working person. Currently, the NDP has no policy to build houses for the poor and marginalised, or to help the working people owing their houses.
On the other hand, the ULP government has built thousands of houses for the poor and working people and distributed several thousands of housing lots at way below market prices, including 10 cents per square foot land in some cases. And after every natural disaster the ULP builds and repairs people’s destroyed or damaged houses. The NDP insists that this is a matter for the private sector, not government. A heartless and stupid lot.
The housing stock has nearly doubled in number during the ULP years; the quality, too, has improved immensely; all that is evident. And public servants benefit from the 100 percent, no-down-payment mortgages, mandated by the ULP government, over the objections of the NDP. The NDP averred stupidly that such policy would bankrupt the country; they are so backward; ideas of merit scare them.
EDUCATION FOR ALL
The principal beneficiaries of the ULP’s Education Revolution are the children of the poor, the working people, the peasantry, rural folk, and single mothers. This is so at all levels: Early Childhood, Special Education, Technical and Vocational, Teacher Education, Secondary, College, and University. The explosion of education and training at all levels in SVG is recognised regionally and globally. This year, the ULP government is spending over $250 million on the recurrent budget for Education.
The NDP opposed, and still opposes, the Education Revolution.
TARGETED INTERVENTIONS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
The NDP government (1984 to 2001), and the NDP yesterday and today, have never advanced one single targeted strategic intervention for young people. Indeed, every time the ULP government rolls out such a young people intervention, the NDP opposes it or derides it. This has been the case of multiple programmes of the ULP, including: the YES and SET; PRYME (for young entrepreneurs); FAST (or the athletes); GYVE; ON-SITE; and the support for semi-professional football and netball.
The NDP opposed the ULP’s upgrade of the Arnos Vale Cricket Facility in 2007 ($50 million) and in 2024 ($37 million); the NDP said that “the dance can’t pay for the light”. The same opposition came from the NDP on the construction of the Sir Vincent Beache Stadium (nearly $50 million so far) by the ULP government; the expansion of this stadium continues apace.
The ULP government rehabilitated Peace Mo Hall which the NDP government callously neglected. The NDP opposes the ULP multi-million dollar proposals on expanding cultural facilities nation-wide, especially at Belle Vue, Troumaca, and Petit Bordel.
HELP AT THE TIME OF NATURAL DISASTERS
The NDP government had no institutions and no plans for disaster preparedness and management. The ULP government established NEMO and all the allied facilities. After every natural disaster, the ULP leads from in-front in the relief, recovery, and reconstruction efforts. The evidence abounds with the ULP’s achievements in these respects; meanwhile, the NDP opposes and focusses on creating confusion.
Currently, the ULP government has repaired and rebuilt nearly 3,800 houses out of the almost 6,000 required to be fixed consequent upon Beryl, and the residue from the volcanic eruptions.
The ULP government is providing production support, income support, and disaster support for thousands of Vincentians affected by Hurricane Beryl. For example, between January 1st to June 30th 2025, our government is providing $600 monthly to each head of 6,135 households affected by Beryl, amounting to over $22 million. Last year more than this sum was spent on farmers, farm workers, fishers, and affected households. NDP snipes, criticises, and opposes; they are crazy, foolish, and against the poor and disadvantaged.
NDP CAMPAIGNS FOR THEIR ELITES
Instead of campaigning for the people, the NDP advocates for its own elites. For example, in Parliament, the only house in the Southern Grenadines that they asked about is the one owned and occupied by Terrance Ollivierre. And the pension noise they made in Parliament is about more money for Patel Matthews. These people are really disconnected and selfish!
NDP CARES NOT FOR OUR PEOPLE’S VISAS
NDP is saying “to hell with America, Canada, Britain, and Europe not granting visas to our people”, because of the NDP’s stupidity in advocating the sale of our passports to foreigners, most of them who are vagabonds. Friday has nothing to worry about because he is a Canadian citizen and Bramble the Unwise, has a Canadian passport, too.
Meanwhile, ULP wants to keep our passports and citizenship clean so as not to have a backlash from Canada, USA, Britain, and the European Union. The NDP is unworried about the risk of the restrictions on Western Union money transfers and corresponding banking arrangements because of their folly on wanting to sell passports; the NDP is reckless and stupid.
FIGHTING DOWN THE POOR AND SVG
It is in the DNA of the NDP to fight down poor people and our blessed SVG, mixed with rank hypocrisy and opportunism. The NDP will bring disaster to our country and our people, especially the poor, and the working people, including the middle class. Keep them out!
