The main opposition New Democratic Party’s (NDP) candidate for North Leeward, Kishore Shallow is encouraging Vincentians to embrace change as they prepare to elect a new government.
Shallow, who was in March elected unanimously to a second consecutive term as president of Cricket West Indies, is making his first bid to be elected to Parliament.
He will face off with the ruling Unity Labour Party’s (ULP) Carlos James, who won the seat by one vote in 2020 after a contentious recount, during his second bid, having lost by 12 votes five years earlier.
Shallow had “a very serious reasoning” with electors during the opening of his constituency office in Chateaubelair.
“… I want to tell you about embracing change because that is absolutely critical, and that is what this election is about: embracing change. Change for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, change for Vincentian and what I would call a long overdue change.”
Shallow has a history of change, having piloted amendments of the constitutions of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association, Windward Islands Cricket Board and CWI to institute term limits.
He has also advocated for term limits at the national level in SVG.
“My people of North Leeward, they will tell you that the only thing constant in life is change,” he said, adding that every individual has embraced change.
“And countries are no different; they’re absolutely no different. It is important that countries evolve and go through changes.”
He said that countries across the region have embraced change, noting that earlier this year, Keith Rowley stepped down as prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago after two five-year terms.
“Dr. Keith Mitchell, in Grenada, he did similarly recently,” he said, referring to the former prime minister who quit as opposition leader, paving the way for a successor.
“And others across the globe have embraced change for the mere fact that they all realise that change is critical. You cannot have the same ideologies, the same perspectives forever,” Shallow said.
“You need to have different leadership over time. It is the only how the place is going to evolve,” he said.
Shallow continued:
“Are you ready to embrace change? I want to ask this again, my people of North Leeward, are you ready to embrace change? Are you ready to reach your true potential as a people?
“And I’ll ask the final question: are you ready to take matters into your own hands and effect change?”
Shallow said he had come to the people “with a very simple truth, a simple message: that change, my people, is long overdue”.
He said many of the people present at the event were “the converted — the people who understand that by and large, we need to effect change now.
“In fact, some of you would argue that it is long overdue. We understand that, but though we have to echo the messages to you, we also need to send a message to them.
“We can’t give up on them, because there are people who listen and are eager for change, but some are intimidated, because under this government, this ULP dispensation, we know what victimisation is. We know what marginalisation is.
“And so, people are intimidated. People are fearful for good reasons and merit because they know this government is a wicked one,” Shallow said, adding that he could not find a pastor who was willing to bless the constituency office.
“And it’s not that the pastors don’t want to come, but even the pastors them afraid of the victimisation that this government would dish to them. The pastors in this country, they have accepted that we are so divided as a people that they themselves have to go into hiding. How unfortunate are we?…”
Shallow, however, reiterated that change is inevitable.
“We have to embrace change. It is the only thing that will empower us. And so, change requires vision. It requires a willingness to break free of the chain of complacency, the chains of this ULP administration.
“They have us like we’re in shackles. We have to free ourselves from that and to release ourselves from the shackles of the ULP, we have to embrace change, and that requires every last one of us to embrace change and embrace ownership of the change.”
The article is long on change. But it does not say why we need changed.
In my view we changed to get rid of a government that has failed the people of SVG.
Failed to grow the economy to produce jobs especially for young people.
We changed to get rid of a government that taxes Vincentians to highly. VAT for example.
We need change to have a fairly distribution of income. Not just a small group of people getting the lion share of income.
We need change in SVG because we need to make an effort to deal with the high crime rate.
We changed to reduce the high level of poverty in the country.
We need to change a government that has divided country.
We need changed to improve the lives of women and girls in SVG.
In fact all Vincentians.
We need a government that all Vincentians can be proud of, including Vincentians in diaspora.
I short we changed to get of this who has failed Vincentians.