Unity Labour Party marks 20 years of existence

One of this country’s political parties is celebrating 20 years of existence.

Thursday, October 16 marked the 20th year since the Unity Labour Party (ULP) was formed after a merger between the St Vincent and the Grenadines Labour Party and the Movement for National Unity in 1994.{{more}}

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves acknowledged this milestone last week, while speaking at a press briefing.

“The St Vincent and the Grenadines Labour Party, the oldest labour party in the country which had survived, was founded in 1955 under the late great Robert Milton Cato and of course the MNU was founded under my own leadership on October the 31, 1982, but in so far as both parties came together, it’s 20 years ago. The constituent parts have a much longer history,” Gonsalves said.

Last Thursday also marked an important day in the Prime Minister’s political career.

“Thursday, October 16 is also an important day personally in my political life and that is the 46th anniversary of the day from which I marked my political activism formally, seriously, when on that day in 1968, as president of the students’ union in Jamaica at the University of the West Indies, I led what was then the largest demonstration against a government since the 1938 anti-colonial uprising,” he said.

“For those who – when they throw their slings and arrows at Comrade Ralph, they would know I’ve been around in this struggle in St Vincent and the Grenadines and elsewhere through the Caribbean and where I’ve lived and studied for 46 years and I’ve seen many, many things over those years, things which many of you are reading about in history books.”

Gonsalves also revealed that he celebrated his 20th anniversary as a parliamentarian in February of this year and is looking forward to celebrating the ULP’s 14th consecutive year in office in March 2014.

“The people of St Vincent and the Grenadines have invested greatly in me and they have had lots of returns on their investment and there is much more returns for them to get from their investment in me and their investment returns have not yet been depleted. Most objective observers would say that the returns are still continuing at a fairly appreciable level. Those are questions which will no doubt arise when the issue of leadership becomes a central question in the election campaign when I ask the people of this country to give the ULP and myself a fourth consecutive term,” the Prime Minister said. (BK)