Promise Land!

As we move ever closer to the November, 27 general elections and both main contesting political parties continue to jostle for the hearts and emotions of voters, there has been no shortage of promises being proffered.

It is customary that contending parties put out their much touted manifestos, full of promises. The contents of many of them are either aspirational and quickly forgotten- and not just by the electorate- but in the case of incumbent administrations generally not implemented. The contending side on the other hand is often spared the criticism of not having fulfilled its promises simply for not having made it into office.

The question needs still to be asked, in what measure do the plans laid out on glossy paper sway voters to decide one way or the other?

Do they vote based on promises made or, are they moved mostly on emotional attachment to one or other of the contending political parties?

The 2025 campaign season has seen the New Democratic Party proffer no shortage of promises laid out in what is labelled the four pillars on which they will govern and build. The Unity Labour Party, looking for a sixth consecutive term in office, have rubbished many of these promises at every opportunity.

Then we are confronted with the back and forth over slightly differing approaches to the proverbial goodies meant to attract the electorate to vote for either party.

The Prime Minister, as is customary, listed a barrage of goodies during his 46th Anniversary of Independence address. Included on the 14-items list are numerous areas of tax reductions and increases, among them, a boost in the “poor relief”, and a three percent bonus for public servants. Looking at the measures simply through political lens these ‘vote grabbing’ pronouncements just stopped short of what some anticipated may have been potentially the biggest – an outright mea culpa and pardon with reinstatement of workers dismissed during the controversial COVID-19 vaccine mandate. But this was an opportunity missed by the Prime Minister, whose closest pronouncement on this matter was an appeal to such workers to return to work in the knowledge they would not lose any of their benefits.

Not to be outdone, Dr. Goodwin Friday, who had already promised to reinstate all workers dismissed under the vaccine mandate, hit back with an attention grabbing promise: the offer of a 50 percent off vehicles for public service workers. Then, another promise being widely debated and receiving a lot of attention, is the offer by the NDP of a $500.00 stipend to pregnant mothers. This seemed intended to upend Prime Minister Gonsalves’ much earlier appeal to the nation to “make more babies” in part,to ensure the financial sustainability of the social services system. The back and forth over this proposal has been nothing short of amusing.

But political campaigns have become a very festive period with the NDP this time around strongly mirroring the ULP’s style in many ways. There is now the increased use of massive banners forming the backdrop to their candidates at shows -or are they still just meetings- along with the skilful use of DJs interspersing speeches with clips of popular songs. And now both parties are trying to outdo each other with live appearances by artistes from throughout the CARICOM area. Quite good for regional integration, though a few still complain in negative terms about “foreigners” being employed to entertain. A Caribbean citizen can never be considered a foreigner within the region!

Sadly, among the campaigning, the issue of real education about our electoral processes seems to have largely escaped us. There is heavy use of social media for advertising and promotion, and the quality of many are quite commendable. Others, we’d wish had never seen the light of day. We see and hear, too frequently also, comments online and on radio that since the proroguing of Parliament “we don’t have a prime minister” and “is the Governor General in charge”; a prime example of our lack of civic/political education. If it is not too late can we be promised a bit of education from politicians on this issue? Or can the Electoral Office and the National Elections Monitoring Mechanism take up that end in the heady process? We still have a country to build and whichever of the two main parties being presented at the polls on the 27th is favoured by the electorate, there should be the promise of a great deal of civic education going forward. In the battle toward the biggest promise of the time- the right to govern and guide our beloved St. Vincent and the Grenadines over the next five years- could the appeal by our Police Force please be taken to heart and acted upon- Peace, Order, Discipline!!