Opposition Leader Godwin Friday says that political change is coming, telling New Democratic Party (NDP) supporters in London on Saturday that the darkest hour is just before dawn.
“This is a time for change,” Friday said as the party held its warm-up rally as the campaign ramped up for the upcoming general election, which is widely expected by next month, but due in February.
“Wherever I go, all over the country … people say they want change, so it is important for us to seize that moment when it comes,” Friday said.
He said that over the last five years, the NDP has worked very hard to put together its plans for the development of our country.
“This team, they will fight for you to win the election, and the very next day, we pledge that we will honour our duty and begin the task of governing this country for all of us.”
The opposition leader said that he understands people’s fears about the process.
“But we have trained our agents. We have taken all the measures that are necessary to ensure that when you vote, your vote is secret,” he said.
“Only you and God alone will know how you vote. So, when you go in the polling station, vote your conscience, vote for change — for the New Democratic Party.”
He asked the crowd to imagine that in a matter of weeks, there could be a new government in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“Imagine that. One that listens to you and is focused on your needs. Soon we can rid our country of the arrogance and selfishness that now masquerades as government,” the opposition leader said.
“Soon we can say no, no more to the politics of division, of spite and of hate that has brought our country to this low level. We can instead take our gaze from the gutter where others would wish us to keep it and lift our eyes onto the hills, where, by the grace of God, we will find a path to a brighter and more hopeful future. “
Friday said that the presence of the people at the rally and at the NDP’s campaign meetings across the country tells the party that the people are ready for change.
“So, whenever Gonsalves summons up the courage and calls the election, together, we will get it done, and we will win.”
He said SVG has made it through many crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, “despite the mismanagement of this government.
“We persevered in rebuilding our homes after Soufriere erupted, despite the blatant partisanship and the political spite that the government used in distributing the necessary aid.”
He said that since Hurricane Beryl impacted the country on July 1, 2025, many people are still in temporary accommodations and half-repaired homes, struggling to rebuild with little or no help from the government.
Friday noted the increase in homicides, especially gun killings among young people, which he said has become “our new normal”.
“In February last year, the government said that they had a plan to tackle the problem. We are still waiting. They have once more failed to deliver.”
He said that over the last 25 years of ULP government, high unemployment has remained a blight on society, affecting especially young people.
“For those who have jobs, wages are too low. We have the lowest wages in the region. My friends, we can do better. We can do much better than we are doing under this present government. We cannot forever be the poorest of the poor in the region. You deserve better.”
He said that as the election approaches, the Unity Labour Party (ULP) candidates will come knocking. They will offer lumber, they will offer cement, they will offer galvanise.
“They will promise to fix your home and your road and the back wall behind your house. They will give you chickens, layers and broilers, and they will give you plantains,” Friday said.
“They will do these things to say that they’re sorry for abandoning you all these years. They will promise you money to meet your needs and other goodies. They will come to you in the red suits like Santa Claus, bearing gifts that you will have to pay for after the election.”
He noted that the government is sending out people to patch up roads and to fill potholes.
“These are the ordinary things they should have done. Now, they are scrambling to do it because election is upon us. But last-minute patchwork, as you know, they can’t make up for years of broken promises, and it cannot erase the memory of their failures.”
He said the government wants the people to forget the years of broken promises and poor governance.
“They hope you forget the broken roads, the lack of medicine and bandages in the hospitals. They hope that the farmers and the fisherfolk will forget that they have been left behind, forgotten and unimportant in their grand scheme.”
He said that the nursing assistants who were promised a pension five years ago and did not get it, and the government is hoping that they forget what they were promised.
“They hope that young people will settle for more empty promises and for cheap entertainment. They hope that you will forget all that they have done wrong,” the opposition leader said.
“They hope that you will forget that they promised to tackle crime and they didn’t deliver. They hope that you will forget that they promised that they will ease the cost-of-living crisis, and they have not delivered. But how can we forget when their broken promises have caused us so much unnecessary hardship and pain?”
The opposition leader said who feels it knows it, adding, “They don’t feel it so they don’t know what needs to be fixed.
“They don’t know the things that need to be done. The ULP’s promises are just words that they say when it suits them, but they do not intend to keep their word. They did not before, and they will not in the future. They feel that this has worked for them and that it will work again.
“But they are so wrong. The people say, enough is enough. It is time for us as a country to break with the past and move forward. One man cannot run the country forever. Those in government, now, are self-centred. They are tired. They are out of touch with the real needs of ordinary people, and when they call election, they too will be out of time.”