5 priorities of the NDP

Our country is suffering from a jobs crisis. Too few of our people have jobs, nearly 1 in 5 people are unemployed or underemployed. This level of unemployment is one of the highest in the Eastern Caribbean. Too many of our young people come out of our education system underprepared for the future. 4 in 10 young people do not have a job. Too many of our young people have to leave our country, have to leave their families behind to find work and opportunity. We will lead a jobs-led economic recovery. That means, we will reduce the unemployment rate, create more meaningful work with higher salaries, enhance our training and education system to prepare young persons for the future, grow our economy to provide opportunities and create more higher paying jobs to lift real wages and improve the wages of existing workers.

The ULP government has failed time and time again to create the conditions for sustained economic growth. After 23 years of power, our economy is still languishing behind others in the Eastern Caribbean. We have had 23 years of false starts and failed promises. SVG has had one of the lowest average economic growth rates in the Eastern Caribbean over the last 23 years.

We will create a new economic plan for our nation. This plan will be built upon four pillars of our economy: Tourism, Agriculture, the New Economy and the Blue Economy. We want to enhance these sectors, unleashing new technologies and processes to ensure that these sectors thrive in the regional and global economy. We want to ensure that these sectors offer people long term quality jobs that will allow people to afford a better quality of life. The NDP will work to unleash the private sector to create the new jobs that aren’t dependent on taxes but dependent on the hard work of our people.

Economic opportunity will be at heart of everything we do. A rising economic tide will lift all boats. Our economic plan will raise incomes, ensure employment and housing for all, and improve the quality of life for all citizens.  We will attract new investment to stimulate construction, marine, agriculture, and manufacturing jobs here at home. We will create jobs by reducing the costs, fees and bureaucratic delays for businesses. They can then expand faster and hire more. We will invest in new equipment, financing, lands, and reforms for our farmers and fisherfolk. We will use finance from our new Development Bank to help businesses start or expand here in SVG. 

Crime is out of control in SVG, affecting everyone directly or indirectly. In 2023 there were 52 homicides. It is the role of the government to protect its people and their livelihoods but despite this, over the past few years we have seen crime become one of the most pressing issues across our country.

We stand for upholding the law. Crime cannot be allowed to undermine our country. If we do not feel safe, little else matters. We will deliver a new approach to stop crime: investing in more police resources, reforming the current judicial process and focussing on crimes that tear at the fabric of our community such as homicide, domestic abuse and predial larceny.

The NDP will making fighting crime one of our most important priorities. We will develop a wide range effort to address crime and the roots of crime. We will work with stakeholders at home and abroad to stop the spread of guns, tackle gangs and ensure that we have a police service that has the tools they need to tackle crime, in all its forms.

We have brilliant healthcare professionals; our doctors and nurses work tirelessly to deliver the best they can, but their ability and passion is not matched by the government. After 23 years of broken promises our healthcare system does not deliver. The ULP has badly let down Vincentians with their complacency and failure in delivering good healthcare. Healthcare in SVG is inadequate. People do not have access to basic medicines, they cannot trust they will get the medicines they need. Many need to travel abroad for their healthcare. Simply put, our people do not trust our healthcare system to help them if they need it.

We need a new approach and energy to health care. We need to set clear priorities and clear goals. An NDP government will invest in our people and processes as well as building and infrastructure. An NDP government will create a National Health Insurance programme.

A country that cannot take care of the weakest and sickest is not a country any of us want. The NDP will deliver a well organised community health system with a team approach among all health care workers operating at community level that will involve joint planning, programming and monitoring and evaluation.

Over the last decade we have seen a series of new infrastructure projects put in place with the support of loans or grants from abroad. These projects represent the opportunity for our country to unleash its economic potential and set the foundation for economic growth that delivers jobs and higher wages.The government has no economic strategy or plan to grow our economy. They have a scatter gun approaching hoping that building a few buildings here and there will lead to economic recovery. But there is no joined up plan from the ULP government to make sure that these projects work for SVG. Not only will we continue to build these infrastructure programme, but we will have a plan to follow through and really grow our economy.

Infrastructure will play a critical role in unleashing the economic potential of our country. But it needs to be part of wider plan to create jobs and growth. A key part of our infrastructure is our roads. People just have to look at the state of the roads to see how bad a state they are in. In many places roads are unsafe, underbuilt or needing repair, the government only repairs these on an ad-hoc basis.

The government has promised over and over again it will fix our roads but then does the bare minimum. Roads are vital, they link up our country allowing economic and social growth. The NDP has promised a national road programme to ensure that every major road is upgraded over the coming 5 years.