NDP gov’t will focus on people, not projects — Friday 

Opposition Leader Godwin Friday says that a New Democratic Party (NDP) government will focus on people and not projects.

He asked the electorate to elect his party to office, thereby making him prime minister, so that he could help to improve their lives. 

Our government is going to be focused on people, not on projects,” Friday said at a campaign event in Town Hill.

“It’s about trying to make life better for you, putting bread on your table, money in your pocket, shoes on your children’s feet, fixing your roof when you leak. You don’t have to come to a politician to do that,” he said. 

“Since when you have to go to a politician because you have a leak in your roof?” the opposition leader said.

“You’re doing it now because people are destitute; they’ve been beaten down. We can do better.”

Friday said that the NDP wants to be elected to bring change to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 

“The reason why I want to be your next prime minister … is because we want to make life better for the people of this country. It’s as simple as that,” he said.

“It’s not about finding a box to stand on. It’s not about putting things, medals, on our chest or giving us names like boss and king. I ain’t ruling anybody; humble yourself,” Friday said.

Friday will lead the NDP into general elections for the second time since becoming party leader in 2017.

In 2020, the NDP suffered its fifth consecutive defeat at the polls since 2001, although it won the popular vote for the first time since 1998.

The NDP has been campaigning over the last several months, holding village meetings across the country. 

“And every day that we talk about the things, the plans that we have for this country, for the people of the country, it’s to bring that into being.”

The opposition leader said he knows the “hardships that we’re all feeling. 

“There are people catching hell to send the children to school now that schools start back,” he said, adding that people were reaching out to him on Monday, when school reopened, for help to buy school supplies.

“There are people that go to the store and they can’t buy the things that they used to buy because of the cost of living crisis. They can’t pay the phone bill. They can’t pay the light bill, the water cut off. We can do better than that. That is what motivates me.”

He said that when the NDP talks about the four pillars of the economy, it is about creating a thriving economy to help the people make life better. 

The opposition leader said the NDP’s priorities are to “create jobs, an economy that works for all of us, to have a health care system that we can trust, to have communities that are safe again from crime, and an infrastructure all over the country that you could walk without having to mash up our shoes or take them off and hold them in your hand to go to church”.

He said an NDP administration will fix the roads, the gutters, the drains, the bridges, the government buildings.

“Look, we’re standing here, and you could see Kingstown. The night has covered up the filth and the dereliction that has become our city, our capital city, in Kingstown. You look at Kingstown now, it’s a shame to see what has happened,” Friday said. 

“The drains are filthy. The buildings they look like they are abandoned. The streets have potholes right in the busiest intersection in Kingstown…” he said.

‘ULP … cannot win this election’

Friday was confident of an NDP victory in the elections, which are widely expected by November, ahead of the February 2026 constitutional deadline. 

“The ULP, they cannot win this election. … What they will try to do is to buy the election, and they’re going to use the people’s own money, the resources of this country, to give out lumber and galvanize, steel and all kinds of things — laptop — but you can pay for it after the election, because it’s your money. 

“So what I say to people, whatever you get, use it properly. If you can’t use it now because you need a little piece of land and you don’t have it because you want to build shanty, wait till I come; you going to get that.

“This is your money that they are spending, and they’re trying to use it to hoodwink and trick you. Don’t let them get away with that.”

He said the ULP will try to scare people by presenting him and the NDP as a monster.

“Do I look like a monster? I could frighten anybody?” Friday said, adding, “We are here trying to create a better life for all of us.”

He said he did not care who people voted for in the last general elections.

“What I care about is who you going vote for next time. I want you to vote for me. I want you to vote for Fitz,” he said, referring to East Kingstown MP, Fitzgerald Bramble.

“I want you to vote for the team that you have put together, because this is the most capable team ever, and it can hit the ground running the day after we have changed the government in this country.”

Friday appealed to people who think they could sit out the election and let other people decide the outcome. 

“.. the risk is too great. If you want the change, do something about it. Don’t sit back,” he said, and urged the young people to vote for the NDP.

“The future of this country is brighter under an NDP government. I give you that commitment. Help us to form a movement that is so irresistible that no matter what they do, they cannot stop the change from coming,” Friday said.

“The only way it will happen is if we all put our single votes together and create that force for change that no matter what they do, they cannot stop it, and that is only the beginning, because when we get that done, we then set to work to make life better for the people of this country.”