Friday says everyone has role in electoral process 

Opposition Leader Godwin Friday is encouraging all Vincentians to participate in the political process, saying that politics affects everyone, whether they realise it.

“We have to win the next election. Everything depends on it,” Friday told a New Democratic Party (NDP) village meeting in Diamond.

He said that people, especially young people, sometimes feel alienated and say they do not want to get involved in politics because it means nothing to them.

“And I say to them, I am not like Ralph Gonsalves. We are not like any other politicians in this country, we’re better than that,” the opposition leader said.

He said the NDP has to win the next general elections to implement its plan for St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 

“… when you cannot find a job, it is because of the politics of the country; it is because of the poor governance of the country.

“It can be better. And so that is what we are about. And we come here to this community seriously, representing to you that we have a plan to make things better in this country.”

Friday will make his second bid to win a general election since becoming president of the NDP In 2017.

The party suffered it its fifth consecutive electoral defeat in 2017 although it won the popular vote for the first time since 1998.

The opposition leader said there are three basic components to the NDP winning the election, adding that as party leader, it is his job to ensure that all those components are put in place and function as intended. 

“And this is important because we are all here, I believe, with one purpose in mind. And that is to change the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to have something better,” the opposition leader said.

He said the first thing is to get the right team of candidates. 

“I believe that the candidates that we have declared, and the ones that you will see coming on board over the next little while will be the best team ever assembled in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to contest an election,” Friday said.

“But more than that also to govern the country in the benefit of the people,” he further said, adding that candidates have to be competent and willing to do the hard work.

“But you also have to have the heart. You have to believe in people. You have to want to be able to help people to improve their circumstances,” the opposition leader said.

“You can’t go into politics because you think it’s a nice, cushy job, that you look good. And you’re standing on a stage and people admire you.”

Friday said some people get into politics “for even more sinister reasons because they filling their pockets and they getting rich in the office. 

“That is not what we’re about. My job, my obsession is to ensure that the people in this country are better off under an NDP government, that life begins to get better the day after an NDP government is elected to office for the people of this country.”

He said in winning the election there is a role for people in the community “who are also doing the work that is necessary to get this thing done”.

Friday said the hosts of the meeting, Andrew John and Laverne Gibson-Velox, the party’s candidates for South Windward and East St. George, will make a difference in their constituencies.

Friday said it is critical that NDP supporters stand behind the party’s candidates in all the constituencies but noted that there will be differences among members of the same team. 

“But you must agree on one thing: St. Vincent and the Grenadines is going down the wrong path, we’re headed towards a cliff that we need to stop it and turn back and move in the right direction,” he said.

He said crime is out of control in the country and the government does not want to talk about it.

“They want us to bury our head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening,” adding that one cannot solve a problem without first acknowledging its existence.

“… we want to make things better, not just for the people who visit our shores. But for the people who live here 24/7.”

 Friday said that once the NDP wins the general election, it will “govern this country in a way that we haven’t seen in recent times, that will improve living standards.”

“So the second part of it is to have a plan,” he said, adding that an NDP administration has to “hit the ground running because we are so far behind the rest of the region.

He said someone had asked him recently if he was sure that he wanted to be prime minister, because the couuntry had been dug into a very deep hole.

“Ah said, ‘I have a long ladder’,” the opposition leader said.  “And the deeper the hole the bigger the ladder I’m gonna bring. Because I have determined that we will get out of this mess that we are in.

“And we have a plan for the development of this country,” he said, noting that the NDP, having consulted with the people, has identified five priority areas. 

“Because I am concerned in representing what you want me to represent you about. Not my own pet projects or things that I feel are important,” he said, adding that this is what democratic governance is about. 

It’s not about me pretending to be smarter than everybody else … It’s not about be telling everybody I have the answer and they must always shut up and take what I say. 

“That is what gets us into the mess that we are in now, because some people believe they have all the answers and even when they’re going wrong, they expect everybody to line up behind them and just shut up.”