A New Democratic Party (NDP) government will bring HOPE to St Vincent and the Grenadines, generating 250 businesses and 5000 jobs in five years.

Plans for the HOPE – Helping Our People Excel programme were announced by Dwight Fitzgerald Bramble, the NDP’s candidate for East Kingstown at a virtual meeting on September 10.

“HOPE will target young people and women and will create opportunities in business from every conceivable sector;

information technology, robotics, agriculture and agri-value, tourism, performing arts, you name it. Opportunities will be provided. It will be capitalised with $10 million and eventually upscaled and upgraded to $100 million,” he said.

Bramble, an economist, said the programme will have various sources of funding including the party’s CBI programme and Foreign Direct Investment.

He added that local businesses and people in the Diaspora will also contribute to HOPE’s success.

The NDP candidate also revealed that it is his party’s intention to establish a Youth Parliament, should they form government after the upcoming General Elections.

“That youth parliament will run with that HOPE programme and make it work. Not like a PRYME programme that’s an election gimmick – and I’m not bad talking the PRYME. I thought it was a good idea, but it was just completely…it was badly structured and badly implemented. HOPE will be the complete opposite of that,” he said.

In his presentation on September 10, Bramble said the Unity Labour Party administration has failed to deliver on promises made to the people of this country via its 2015 Manifesto.

He noted that the ULP promised to create at least 9000 jobs in five years.

“An unemployment rate of 26 per cent with a youth unemployment rate of 46 per cent, where the 9000 jobs dey?” the East Kingstown candidate questioned.

Bramble also cited the Port Modernisation project and extension of the cruise ship pier as unfulfilled promises, as well as the developments at Mount Wynne/Peters Hope and, in the agriculture, fisheries and ICT sectors.

“So when you understand why we have such a high level of unemployment, it’s because we have no economic activity to generate employment and as a result of that, our economy is stagnant,” he said.

Bramble added: “We are at rock bottom. If we go lower than this, we will be going underground. Our economy, the economy of this country is at rock bottom…let them come and refute it, let them bring their plans to show how they going to turn it back. There aren’t any plans.”