A first-time voter voting for progress

07.DEC.10

EDITOR: I am a young Vincentian who will be voting in the December 13 elections and I am excited about doing so because this is my individual right and a legacy, which many have fought for in the early history of our country. In deciding which political party I must support I have decided that I will not:{{more}}

l Vote a particular party because my friends or parents support that party.

l Support a party because of what the talk shows dictate.

l Be blinded by issues of colour creed or race.

Consequently, I have listened, observed and have decided to vote for progress and development. All governments have in one way or the other created some form of development for example, the Labour Party, led by Milton Cato, initiated the sugar industry and further took the country into independence. The New Democratic Party, led by Sir James Mitchell, renovated the Kingstown General Hospital and renamed it. Therefore, it is true to say that all the political parties in this country would have tried in some way to develop some physical aspect of this blessed land.

I must then ask you the reader how can you truly measure development? I am sure you would agree with me that you can measure the development of a country by the growth of its human resources, that is, the growth of its people. Hence, not only do we need governments to build the infrastructure of the land, but we must touch the people’s lives, their educational, social and physical being. Moreover, to compliment the equation we need certain services which will spill off to positively create opportunities for the human resources. Ask yourself which of the governments we have had in this land over these years which have demonstrated other sides of development? Is it the NDP which ruled for 17 years or is it the ULP which ruled for 9 years?

In order to make my decision, I researched and found that although the ULP was borne out of the Labour Party it had a different vision. I observed the facts with an open mind because I am not in any way affiliated to any party. It was revealed that the programmes and initiatives that have been implemented by the ULP have naturally provided growth and advancement among my people. For example, the education revolution with improved pre-schools and wider access to university education has and will create more educated young people. Even though they may not be able to find a job in this country to match their qualification they can think of the CSME proposal to work any where in the Caribbean. Just recently, I read of the increase output at the Nursing School thus there are Vincentian nurses working in Barbados. Added to that, I look at the Youth Empowerment Programme and this was a splendid idea to provide employment for young persons. Consequently, overtime the educational development will positively contribute to the increase in the physical aspects of development. This will be manifested in the improved standard of living among our Vincentain people.

Apart from education there is so much done on the physical side, to name a few: the construction of low-income houses, improvement of tourism sites, the construction of an international airport, the construction of schools along with other plants built to improve fishing and agriculture. When I observed all these sites I see spill off benefits for human advancement. These are projects with human development in mind. They will create employment in numerous ways and so touch the lives of people.

I don’t need to tell you how to vote, but I am encouraging you to do as I did, don’t just criticize a government, look at their plans and what they are capable of. As a young Vincentian I am afraid that too many persons are playing politics and are not concerned about true development. I look forward to December 13 and I wish all the political parties good luck, but I wish this country better luck with the ULP and its continued quest for true development.

CF