“It grieves me that the party is not in government and it would grieve me to see the 40th anniversary come up and we are still in opposition,” said NDP founder and former prime minister, Sir James Mitchell.
The party is headed by economist Arnhim Eustace who took over its leadership after Sir James stepped down from active politics ahead of the 2001 general election that was later won by the Unity Labour Party (ULP) of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves.
The NDP lost the 2001 poll by a 12-3 margin with the identical results being repeated in 2005. But five years later it came within a whisker of toppling the ULP as it improved on the convincing victory it had secured in the 2009 constitutional reform referendum when it urged nationals to reject changes to the Constitution.
Sir James said he was pleased to have participated in the 2009 referendum and he is also willing to “do what I can for the party (and) try and help them along”.
But Sir James is still insisting that Eustace, a former prime minister, should have stepped down after the 2010 electoral defeat and hopes the party’s executive will change its present attitude and begin to work hard in order to win the 2015 general election.
He said he is alarmed that the executive does not seem to understand that when the next election comes “we start with zero seats.
“I hear from time to time people say ‘All we need is one more seat to form government.’ Nonsense! The moment you are back to the polls, everybody starts at zero. You have to work to keep what you have and you have to get more.
“It disturbs me, that attitude. Because it is war and you have to fight to get there. I would like to see us get there and so on, but we shouldn’t be thinking that simply we would get there by ULP falling down. You have to work very hard to win elections. It doesn’t fall in your lap,” he said on a local radio station.
He said the NDP has to have a clear approach for transition, “with a philosophy of we need all hands on deck.
“If you feel you going win and leave out people, that’s not the attitude. You have to have all hands on deck. And you got to work. Don’t think it is going to be easy, because the people who are in government, they will do what they have to do for them to continue to win,” said Sir James, who has travelled to neighbouring Grenada where he will address the main opposition New National Party (NNP).
“I’ve been invited by the Leader of the Opposition and former prime minister Keith Mitchell to come down and help them prepare their team for elections next year,” he said.
The NDP has released a statement to mark its 37th anniversary and “reflect on the party’s presence on the political, social and economic landscape over these years”.
It said it had been able to touch “every aspect of Vincentian lives: over the 37 years since its formation, recalling the words of one of its founding members Cherry Smith that the “party must always be new, it must always find new people. New ideas, the older the party, the newer it must be”.
“The contribution of the NDP to nation building must never be underestimated. This foundation was laid during the party’s tenure in government, which spanned close to 17 years,” the party said recalling its first stint in office that followed the 1983 poll when it won nine of the 13 seats, making Sir James the country’s second prime minister.
The party has the envious record of being the only political party here to have won all the seats in national elections.
In its statement, the NDP said that its record over the 17 years in office showed that the island had prospered significantly and quoted a World Bank statement that claimed “since the mid 1980s, St Vincent and the Grenadines pursued sound economic policies”.
The party said that the IMF later noted there’s “much to praise, little to fault” in the NDP government.
But it said St. Vincent and the Grenadines is today faced with economic stagnation and high poverty levels.
“We are now facing unsustainable debt levels and four years of negative growth. Only an NDP government can return this nation to economic prosperity; the people eagerly await such time,” it added.
Last month Eustace told an opposition rally that the Ralph Gonsalves administration must be removed from office because of its failed socio-economic policies.
“They (the population) feel the pressure of this country not growing at all. This economy is in a mess and all of us, all of us have to pay the price,” he said, adding “I know that our change is going to come and come very soon”.
Eustace blamed non-existing economic growth for the present situation facing the island, noting “no other country in this region has shown so much poor growth as St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“Indeed no other country in Latin America and the Caribbean has grown less than St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We can’t continue in the manner we are going. It is really hurtful to see the conditions of many people in our country,” Eustace said, noting that a few years ago, the banana industry was earning approximately five million EC dollars (One EC dollar = US0.37 cents) monthly, but during the last nine months of this year, the sector had only recorded revenue of EC$600,000.
He blamed the government for its slow reaction to the dreaded Black Sigatoka leaf spot disease affecting banana farms.
He said that even though the government had publicly indicated it would pay public servants 50 per cent of the outstanding back pay owed to them, “they were not even capable of meeting that.
“That is the society we have here today. So many people can’t earn a living, so many people losing their jobs,” he said, warning nationals to expect tax increases when the national budget is presented next month.
“I am appealing to St. Vincent and the Grenadines people, time for a change, time to put a government that understands the economy of St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” he said, telling supporters “it is hard to know that so many people in St. Vincent and the Grenadines can’t make ends meet”.
CMC/kc/pr/2012