Every Young Vincentian Should Vote for the NDP in 2025
Never before in our nation’s history has youth unemployment been so alarmingly high, it has reached a crisis point. Today, under the ULP government 46% of young Vincentians are without jobs, a staggering figure that reflects not just economic failure, but a profound betrayal of our generation. The few opportunities that exist under the ULP government are temporary and unsustainable. This government has made an art form out of temporary solutions—temporary jobs (construction, On Site, YES program etc), temporary bridge, temporary schools, temporary clinics—but young people must remind them that their time in office is also temporary. It is time for them to go!
The ULP has miserably failed in providing meaningful technical and vocational (TechVoc) education. Their neglect of TechVoc is a slap in the face to young people. Across St. Vincent and the Grenadines, community centres are closed, overgrown with bush and littered with faeces. Imagine if these spaces were transformed into engines of opportunity where young people can:
• Learn skilled trades, so we no longer need to import workers for basic construction tasks like mixing cement.
• Develop artisanal and craft-making skills to produce uniquely Vincentian souvenirs for the tourism industry.
• Train young entrepreneurs running online food businesses, giving them the skills and resources to expand their ventures.
Instead, these centres remain locked up, symbolic of a government that has shut out young people from opportunity.
Added to this, the PRYME grant system was supposed to empower young entrepreneurs, but instead, it remains a dodgy, politically manipulated handout system. Who benefits? Not the visionary young baker in Petit Bordel or the aspiring tech innovator in Owia, nor the young entrepreneur from the Grenadines trying to rebuild after Hurricane Beryl. The reality is clear: PRYME is being used as a political tool to reward ULP cronies, their families, and those whose loyalty they are trying to buy. That is not development; that is corruption and daylight robbery of our future.
As elections draw closer, young people can expect the usual wine and dine from the ULP—lavish events, entertainment contracts for their usual suspects, and grand promises for the rest. When you stop to think about it, you see the same circle of entertainers being hired over and over, if others are ever lucky they get the crumbs but never the big contracts. We must not be fooled. After election day, it will be back to “square one”—where only the politically connected benefit while the rest are forgotten. For over a decade, many have been holding out in false hope that their time will come and have been told to “wait their turn.” But let’s be real, if your time has not come in the last 10+ years, it will never ever under the ULP. They have shown us exactly who they are and as they say, “we must believe what we see.”
This election is about more than just voting. It is about changing the trajectory of our country’s future. The NDP is the only party with a real plan to empower young people and create sustainable opportunities, and not handouts to the few. The NDP will introduce a National Development Bank – providing low-interest loans for young entrepreneurs, so you can fund your business ideas without facing discrimination, you losing your dignity or idea theft. Too many young Vincentians can’t even open a bank account hassle free, much less secure financing. The NDP must and will change that.
Additionally the NDP will invest in an Innovation Hub – offering technical support, mentorship, business plan development, marketing strategies, and market research services. Young people with great ideas will have a structured path to success, ensuring their businesses can grow, thrive and create employment. By empowering entrepreneurs and building a real economy, the NDP will help to create long-term, high-quality jobs—not just the temporary, politically driven contracts tied to election cycles.
This is the year when young Vincentians must send a clear message: We deserve better. We demand better. The ULP has had 20 years to deliver. They have chosen [word omitted by editors] over creativity, [word omitted by editors] over competence.—the ULP has failed us.
We must reject the politics of favouritism, temporary handouts, and empty promises. We must demand a government that works for all young people, not just a privileged few.
In 2025, every young Vincentian must stand with the NDP. Our future depends on it.