Caesar promises ‘blue school to train young fishers’

Minister of Agriculture Saboto Caesar says that the Unity Labour Party will establish a “a blue school to train young fishers in long line fishing and operate a fishing fleet” if elected to a sixth term in office.

“Labour will establish an abattoir for livestock farmers. Labour will operate buying depots in Langley Park in Lauders, in La Croix at Vincy Fresh at Diamond, and also in Belmont,” he told a rally of the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) in Layou Saturday night.

“The Eastern Caribbean Food Traders Ltd. was established and it will buy food from our farmers so that we will be able to compete with traders anywhere in the Caribbean, anywhere in the world,” said Caesar, who has been heading the agriculture ministry since 2010.

Caesar, a lawyer, will seek a fourth consecutive term as MP for South Central Windward in the next general election, widely expected by November, ahead of the February 2026 constitutional deadline. 

He will face, for the second successive election, a challenge by Israel Bruce of the main opposition New Democratic Party.

Caesar defeated Bruce, also a lawyer, by 239 votes on his first attempt in the 2020 polls.

The minister said that he recently met a 9-year-old boy in Union Island who professed his love for Labour.

He noted that the child cannot vote in the upcoming polls because he is too young.

Caesar, however, asked party supporters “to go out, to put on their red, go to the rallies, to knock on your neighbour door and to go out and vote for the Unity Labour Party.

“You know why? Because that young man has a sure seat in a secondary school. That young man is going to get a tuition scholarship under the ULP to go and study at a university.

“Let us continue to advance the cause of Labour. Labour is working! Forward ever; backwards never,” Caesar said.

He said the ULP is “the hardest-working government” that St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has ever seen.

He praised the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying, “In some countries, you had long, long lines all around supermarkets.

“But in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, we mobilise our farmers, we got the Love Boxes to your door, and we handled the pandemic well.”

He said that a few weeks after La Soufriere erupted in April 2021, blanketing the country with ash, people could not believe that there had been a volcanic eruption in the country.

“… because we done clean up the place, we done put together all the ministries, and we are able to advance ourselves and develop St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the aftermath of those eruptions, because Labour is working.”

He said that thanks to the vision of the ULP, SVG is recovering from the damage caused by Hurricane Beryl on July 1, 2024.

“Let us remember when we were constructing the Argyle International Airport, all the negatives that they were saying. Today, you have airlines from many, many different destinations coming to this country because Labour is working for you.”

He said the nation’s farmers and fishers continue to benefit from the Argyle International Airport.

“… and very soon, soon and very soon, we are going to see the opening of Port Kingstown that will benefit even more the farmers and fishers of St Vincent,” he said of the EC$700 million port that is slated to open on Oct. 24.

He said that under the ULP, 98% of the root crops going into Trinidad and Tobago come from SVG.

“People in Barbados, people in Trinidad putting their pots on the fire because they know food is coming from SVG, because Labour is working,” Caesar said.

He said that under the ULP, SVG became the largest exporter of root crops and livestock in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States.

“It is under Labour that the farmers and fishers of St. Vincent and the Grenadines received $27 million to support production this year,” Caesar said.

“Comrades, when you have a party, when you have a hard-working government like the Unity Labour Party, you have to love your party, and you have to continue to put on your red and hurt up their head all over St. Vincent.”

Caesar said that he could not wait for Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves to announce the date for the upcoming general elections.

He expressed confidence that the ULP will be returned to a sixth term in office.

“Comrades, this is a party of policies and programmes. And there are persons who are here listening. Persons all over the world are listening, because this is a party that will continue to raise the standards here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Labour is working,” Caesar said.