NDP gov’t not firing ULP supporters, MP tells North Leeward constituents                    

By Ashford Peters

North Leeward MP Kishore Shallow has assured constituents that the New Democratic Party (NDP) administration, of which he is a part, will not be following the Unity Labour Party (ULP) along a path of political victimisation.

Since the NDP was elected to govern on Nov. 27, replacing the ULP administration after 24 years, its supporters have been calling on the new government to dismiss public sector workers who supported the former government.

Shallow, who is also minister of tourism, civil aviation and sustainable development, spoke of his government’s commitment to an inclusive society as he addressed a town hall meeting in Fitz Hughes.

He used the annual Christmas road cleaning and the seasonal jobber programmes to demonstrate to the people that his government would not follow the ULP administration’s path of political victimisation.

Shallow said that instead of trimming the list of thousands, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Physical Planning, Nigel Stephenson told the Cabinet that while a list of road workers had already been established, the NDP had just won the election, “we can’t fire people who have been on the programme, but we have to spend another $2 million to ensure other people get opportunities”.

The new government added 2,000 workers to the Christmas road cleaning programme.

“And [there is] one thing I want to caution on … We want this to be an inclusive government where you have a great role to play in how we advance our country,” Shallow said.

He said the NDP government was doing what it committed to during the election campaign.

The North Leeward MP said he has had to “remind a few of our passionate supporters about this”, telling them they must not expect him to do anything else.

“When we said on the campaign [trail] that we are not going to fire people, when we said on the campaign that what we are going to do is create more jobs and increase salaries, we meant that,” Shallow told the town hall meeting.

He said that the NDP government knows that some constituents have been supporting the party for a long time, including its 25 years in opposition.

“We know some of you have been marginalised by the ULP. But what I say, and I say this on behalf of Dr. Friday, our prime minister, I say this on behalf of my Cabinet colleagues, that we are not going down the road that ULP went for 25 years,” Shallow said.

“We are not going to victimise people because they vote for ULP. So, expect that this is what this new government is going to do.”

Shallow told the North Leeward residents that the NDP administration is looking out for “every single Vincentian, regardless of who they supported in the past”.

He said he appreciated that NDP supporters were “anxious for opportunities”, but he knew that deep down they do not want to see other people, their neighbours and family suffer.

“But I understand that from the limited resources and the limited opportunities, you want your jobs too. And that is why we are working hard at creating those opportunities so that all of us could enjoy jobs. “Because if we continue on that road that the ULP was on, I could tell you, St. Vincent and the Grenadines is going to be poorer for it,” he said.

Shallow appealed to constituents to “exercise a bit more patience” while the new government commit to its promise of “working on a St. Vincent and the Grenadines for all and not just a selected few…

“And we are confident that with time, we are going to deliver a country that all of us enjoy through our four economic pillars that we spoke about, tourism, agriculture, the new economy … and the blue economy,” Shallow said.

During the 24-year reign of the ULP, there were numerous reports of political victimisation.

Shallow, a first-time candidate, won the North Leeward seat by 560 votes, defeating Carlos James of the NDP, who had been declared the winner by one vote after a contentious recount five years earlier, on his second attempt.