Bird’s-eye view of ULP’s 25 years in government

By Kenrick Quashie 

As Vincentians prepare to go to the polls, it is important to take a bird’s-eye view of the ULP’s 25 years in government and the NDP’s offering for the future. A 25-year streak of unbroken governance is no small achievement. Such continuity should produce real and lasting benefits that include strong institutions, sustained growth, and visibly improved living standards. Yet the record in SVG tells another story.

Imagine a CEO running a company for 25 years and the company is not becoming profitable. No shareholder would tolerate that. It would also be expected that the CEO would train other leaders to take over. The sad truth is that after 25 years we have little progress and the CEO can’t step down even though he claims to have been training certain potential leaders for the last 10-15 years. It is an indictment of the CEO and the incompetence of the potential candidates.

Like a business, one does not expect to reap dividends in the first few years of operations but it is expected that after 25 years, you will reap consistent dividends. It is why in the first two terms we were promised an economic takeoff. Twenty-five years later, and we still can’t take off. Parents have had to band their belly, children come and still have to band their belly, even while their unborn children and grandchildren already have “hooks in their gills”.  It is ludicrous to think that a leader cannot deliver steady returns after 25 years.

In some instances, we see countries where the changing of guards frequently at elections affects long-term projects. Where one administration starts a project, and the other stops it. But the ULP CANNOT use that excuse. For more than two decades, there has been no interruption in leadership. The same administration with the same prime minister has had the time, resources, and power to deliver transformation.

Yes, we have endured natural disasters, but those cannot justify chronic underperformance. Many smaller, poorer nations have faced worse and emerged stronger.

SVG suffers from having a prime minister and government with short-term political thinking, misplaced priorities, and policy driven by convenience rather than vision. Too many national decisions have been motivated by political expediency rather than economic logic, real growth and people-centeredness.

The ULP government has been a political machinery that is focused on winning the next general elections and not preparing the next generation. So often, gossip and personal spite have substituted for sound policy in their deliberations. That is not leadership; it is survivalism disguised as governance.

And still they utter propaganda: “Change from what to what?” or “Who say the NDP will do better?” or “Go play lotto if you want a chance.”

These are not serious arguments. They are fear tactics, designed to prey on voter uncertainty.
The truth is, democracy demands renewal. Before 2001, the people gave Gonsalves and the ULP a chance. Before that, in 1984, they gave the NDP a chance. That is how democracy works. A chance is given. Leadership must be tested, renewed, and replaced when it stops delivering.
After 25 years, we can conclude that ULP’s modus operandi will not change. The faces of their candidates may be new, but the pattern repeats itself. After each election, MPs disappear, constituency work fades, the same people benefit from contracts and appointments, and communication with the people vanishes until the next campaign begins.

Grace Walters will not be better than Gomery. Rodan will be no better than Gustus.  

Brewster has already shown he is no better than Straker. The issue is not personalities but a system that prioritises control over service.

As Vincentians prepare to vote, we must view this election for what it is:

·      A referendum on 25 years of squandered opportunity by Gonsalves and the ULP,

·      A chance to restore integrity and long-term vision to governance with the NDP, and

·      An opportunity to reclaim the power that belongs to the citizens of SVG, not ULP party or any other political party.

We deserve more than handouts and hollow slogans. We deserve good governance and measurable results. The time for fear is over because the time for renewal has come.

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