Unity Labour Party launches Manifesto at Park

The Unity Labour Party (ULP) launched the first of its two manifestos for the 2010 general elections at the Victoria Park, last Sunday, December 5, with less than a week to go before Monday’s general elections.{{more}}

Sunday’s launch is a prelude to tonight’s launch of the party’s second manifesto, which specifically focuses in on issues relating to youth, sport and culture.

Entitled ‘Our Vision for SVG – We naaaah tun back’ Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves outlined the top ten policies should his party be returned to office: poverty alleviation; wealth creation; a many-sided strategy for economic growth; extension and deepening of the Education Revolution; making St Vincent and the Grenadines safer; the health and wellness revolution; uplifting communities; an elaboration on plans for the building of a new city at Arnos Vale; completing the Argyle International Airport and delivering top notch, good governance.

“This is our vision for the next five years to build on what we have before,” Gonsalves told the mammoth crowd of supporters at the Victoria Park.

“This is our covenant with the people; we consider this sacred,” he said.

“So we seek your vote for another term, partly on the basis of our record of outstanding accomplishments, but also on our solid commitments for the future,” Gonsalves continued.

“In 2001 and 2005, we made pledges to you about what we would do, so you can trust us to keep our promises because we have earned your trust.”

But the prime minister said that his party, should it be returned to power, will “extend, consolidate and even rebuild upon the remarkable successes of the years since 2001.”

“The last ten years have sharpened us for greater achievements again, particularly with the unified blending of a core of experienced stalwarts and some fresh faces of the highest quality,” Gonsalves said, adding that the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) party had wasted its ten years in that capacity.

“It is bankrupt of ideas; they oppose everything that is progressive,” he said.

The Prime Minister also warned his supporters of what he said an NDP government would “turn back the clock on.”

“If this country were to put the NDP in office, we will go backwards and the progress we have seen will come to a halt,” Gonsalves warned.

“It trades daily in the currency of untruths and insults; it has a leader whom practically everyone knows is unable to lead, especially in these challenging times; it looks forward to the past … in the full knowledge that its future is behind it, and the NDP is yet to purge itself of backward elements who are awaiting for the first opportunity to plunder the resources of the state,” Gonsalves said.

“Simply put, the NDP, as the brethren on the block say, they got to wheel and come again. The nation cannot afford the monumental gamble with this lot.”

He however commented on his government’s ability to focus on delivering good governance, as he went on to highlight some of the achievements in the areas of education, sports and business.

“These accomplishments have not been accidental, they are as a consequence of focused public policies,” Gonsalves said.

“The ULP has led the most successful government in our country’s history and we have done so despite enormous problems which have come from outside, including the economic and political challenges and from nature,” he added.

The prime minister’s speech was followed by presentations by different candidates of the ULP who spoke in detail on a number of policies.

Saboto Caesar spoke on the ULP’s third term plans in the area of housing and land; Girlyn Miguel addressed education and social development; Michele Fife spoke on youth, sports and culture, Jerrol Thompson dealt with health and information technology and Maxwell Charles addressed the issue of foreign policy and the connection with the Diaspora.