If the government stays connected to the people, it will continue to be popular and should emerge victorious when the next general election is called.{{more}}

This was the message delivered to the Unity Labour Party (ULP) delegates gathered at the Campden Park Secondary School assembly hall last Sunday, November 23, for the party’s 15th annual convention.

The hall of red was given those words of wisdom by Peter David, the General Secretary of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Grenada. David also serves as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism in the Tilman Thomas government.

David said that despite the challenges, including the worldwide economic slow down facing governments, a government that is connected to the people will be able to succeed.

“In this battle you must remember one simple thing, you must stay with the people,” David said.

He stressed the importance of the political party, saying that it is the mechanism that should be used to maintain the links with the people.

On a day in which Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves was honoured for his forty years of political activism, David hailed Dr Gonsalves as a champion of regional integration.

He lauded the role that Dr Gonsalves played in the creation of the agreement that paved the way for the pursuit of an economic and political union between this country, Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia and Grenada earlier this year during a meeting in Trinidad.

This thrust towards what has been described as a “more perfect union” is what is needed in the region if the Caribbean is to survive and excel in today’s world, David submitted.

“Today we have the best opportunity to create a better and more integrated Caribbean…our future depends on us finding ways to work together,” he said.

Dr Gonsalves was also hailed as having influenced the composition of the manifesto of the NDC during the last elections.

David suggested that programmes like the Republic of China on Taiwan funded Learning Resource Centres and the Education Revolution are prime examples of a government that is “putting people at the centre of the development…the kind of St Vincent and the Grenadines that generations can be proud off.” (KJ)