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Poverty: An NNP strategy for retaining political power

This story was posted 6 months ago
14 October 2020
in OPINION/COMMENTARY, Politics
4 min. read
Image: Frantisek Krejci/Pixabay
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by Norris Mitchell

The above caption could apply to any of our post independent Caribbean island nations, but as the writer has spent most of his long life in Grenada, the particulars in this discourse would apply specifically to Pure Grenada – Spice of the Caribbean.

This is not a polemic in economics or social science but rather a chronicle of experiences gained over the years having lived and worked in several Caribbean islands and has become a sub-conscious participant in the milieu and evolution of Caribbean affairs.

As a colony just before independence, we were content to a certain extent, with the paternal governance by the Colonial Office in the United Kingdom, but as agitation for self-rule became the mantra of the day in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s; Grenada in 1974 was given independence without knowing the ramifications of this new dispensation.

The stage was now (well) set for our local politicians to take control of the status quo. It would appear, however, that in all of the new independent islands of the Caribbean, the quality of the first batch and other politicians which emerged, with Grenada, as a glaring example, did not have an ideological vision — a road map as it were, for the development and wellbeing of the new nation, but adopted a HIT and MISS policy which has not proven to be a successful formula in most cases, as the existing evidence would show.

On 7 February 2021 Grenada would be 47 years as an “Independent” country. In those 47 years the country was first governed by the GULP — under Prime Minister Gairy; the PRG, then PM Blaize, followed by PM Brathwaite with short stints by PMs Brizan and Ben Jones then PM Tillman Thomas. The bulk of the 47 years — over 30 odd years, have been under the rule of the New National Party headed by Dr Keith Mitchell.

Any logical assessment of the progress of Grenada post-1974 would therefore rest heavily on the plans and programmes of Dr Mitchell’s NNP — and the verdict is now out that his party and the leader himself have been found guilty of putting Grenada in a most undesirable state — coronavirus pandemic, notwithstanding.

The sovereignty of our country has been whittled away over the years by secret land transfer deals of our prime real estate, whose records cannot be traced in the registry, to would-be developers who ravage our environment in the name of progress without a black penny going into our treasury, together with government guarantees given to conmen who abscond with our hard paid taxes — never to be heard of again, resulting in a high and unsustainable national debt, the actual figure of which the Prime Minister refuses to disclose to the Grenadian people. What one would describe as a reckless government, with no accountability, which some say is tantamount to systemic corruption.

What is however most disturbing is the reality that these so-called developmental projects include no factories only hotels, built from the sale of our passports, which have not in any meaningful way improved the lives of the ordinary/average Grenadians over the long period of NNP governance, where the rich is getting richer and the poor becoming poorer, and it is the same poor and uneducated who are the voting base of the NNP that would continue to be pauperised in the interest of the retention of NNP political power, sometimes referred to as Project Grenada.

This social phenomenon appears to be the desired intention of the NNP, whose agenda — surreptitiously keeps its followers in a permanent state of dependency — a beggar, instead of an empowered person, where the citizen is capable of looking after her/himself in an equitable and just society, where the resources of the state can be accessed through the “re-institution” of the democratic state institutions without the undesirable meddling by political actors, as compared to the humiliation of the needy in the collection of the pittance which is/was on offer during the pandemic.

In closing, it is prudent, in my view, to recall three notable events that have occurred within the last 5 years or so, which were unsuccessful attempts by the government to further hijack our democracy and must be retold, so as to keep the citizens alert.

The first was the 2016 and 2018 referenda which sought to make the CCJ our final appellate court of Grenada, and in so doing “sever the final chains of colonialism.” This however, was the pretext for giving the government authority to change the constitution in order to further strengthen the chains of colonialism under a black massa government (a creeping dictatorship).

The second and more recent, was the coronavirus emergency bill, which sought to give the government sweeping powers of arrest and detention — outside the judicial process; in short — a police state with power to break and enter private property without a warrant; and the latest — is the GCNA and the Cocoa Association merger bill to privatise the two institutions, where a minister would nominate its members and indirectly run the new organisation in the interest of persons other than farmers — in other words the subtle, but deliberate disinheritance and pauperisation of the tillers of the soil and owners of the agricultural lands and their real estate properties, which would be legislated to political actors of the state and their cronies.

The ball is now in the court of WE THE PEOPLE to initiate the passing parade, in order to usher in a new dispensation which empowers our people in an equitable and progressive society.

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Tags: debtdemocracydevelopmentindependencennpnorris mitchellproject grenadawe the people
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Comments 15

  1. the true grenadian says:
    6 months ago

    but hasnt the nnp built roads and infrastructure. shows how dumb and ignorant this article is. not only hotels. you already have clarks court and renegade rum distillery and you have a couple new poultry farms starting to open up. everyone need to shut up with this bullshit. Grenada has manufacturing too. If you want it to resume go out there and protest for it to start! and not protest for tourism to end!

    Reply
    • D Hart says:
      6 months ago

      What roads? Horrible unsafe mess all over the island and the stink of constantly broken promises of improvement and building of roads. Who are you kidding? This govt is stealing you blind. Wake up and hear all the lies and acknowledge the poverty and lack of services on the island.

      Reply
  2. Hugo Charles says:
    6 months ago

    Very true observation

    Reply
  3. If we dont have tourism we will go doomed. says:
    6 months ago

    its sad to see that this country is going down in destruction and what i mean is in terms of government opposing people destroying the growth and development of this country. we have little to nothing. all i can say is some rich countries like singapore qatar canada and the uae along with the usa have people who dont oppose their government but respect them. we have little to nothing but all we can do is open up our tourism industry and build more hotels and expand tourism. rumors and lies are going around now starting to make people feel a touch of colonialisation. look at the bahamas and the dominican republic for example. they are some of the richest countries in the caribbean and they have a very big tourism industry. idk about oil but all i can say is we might not be able to go after oil and gas. we can only use what we have. grendians plesase dont oppose the government and tourism. we want better infrastructure and health care and that money comes from tourism. if its not coming from tourism it wont come from anywhere else and we will slowly start to become under developed. please dont delete this comment @nowgrenada people need to read this.

    Reply
  4. If we dont have tourism we will go doomed. says:
    6 months ago

    where the oil im asking my government dubai is so rich of oil and they became rich. venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world and trinidad and guyana tags along with it. we are not too far off from those countries so what about us? I am waiting for us to become rich through oil but not tourism. Since the locals dont want tourism but want to put an end to it, we have no choice but to exploit our country or else we will become a poor doomed third world country with little to less hope if we dont find oil. YES THE GOVERNMENT OF GRENADA AND THE NP HAS DONE ALOT SUCH AS BUILDING ROADS FOR BAD MINDED PEOPLE TO DRIVE ON, INSTALLING STREET LIGHTS FOR BAD MINDED GOVERNMENT AND HOTEL OPPOSING PEOPLE TO SEE WHEN DRIVING AT NIGHT. but they have not said one word about oil. if we keep on having democracy the people will strangle this country to its end. SINGAPORE HAS NO DEMOCRACY BUT IT IS THE RICHEST COUNTRY WITH BEST HEALTH CARE AND INFRASTRUCTURE and they came from being impoverished. THE MIDDLE EAST ARE RICH COUNTRIES BUT WITH LOYAL NON GOVERNMENT OPPOSING PEOPLE AND NO DEMOCRACY and look how rich they are in terms of infrastructure and healthcare. All we need to do is shut it and stop opposing the government our beautiful country and the hotel and tourism industry. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC THE BAHAMAS AND CAYMAN ISLANDS ARE TOURIST FILLED COUNTRIES and look how rich and developed they are. We need to take a page from them and create a tourism industry. grenada has no oil or resources barely any but all we can do is share our beautiful country with foreigners and thats it. WE CAN ONLY USE WHAT WE HAVE AND CAN.

    Reply
  5. Jazmine Charles says:
    6 months ago

    Financial dependency on a single source is not logical. Economics 101: do not put all eggs in one basket. Tourism brings revenue, true, but attention should also be focused upon the many who profit not from it. Hence, farming is a concern, how food gets to plate for many. But looking at the well-being of Grenada citizens as related to income levels (as compared to other islands) how, I ask you, will more money come to their hand? What employment opportunities exist? What panacea will come for all? I hear the rich get richer while the poor get poorer. So, that in mind, I ask you to ask yourself why this is? Grenada has the bourgeois and the proletariat and the former of the two desires that it remain so.

    Reply
    • oof no tourism will make us go doomed says:
      6 months ago

      yes but all you can do is wait and see after hotels are finished being built. Government and hotel opposing people like you are in the way of development of this country and the economy. rich wont be getting richer and poor wont be getting poorer and i can tell you that. farmers will be supplying food, local companies will construct the hotel with local people and local people will be working there. that is all i can day. just dont assume that it will have no benefit.

      Reply
  6. Chad Chen says:
    6 months ago

    Norris Mitchell is complaining that the Government’s “so-called development projects” include “only hotels” but no factories.

    Apparently, Norris does not understand that Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana have all suffered one setback after another in their attempts to develop manufacturing. It is not easy, in no small part because of the cheap Asian goods that are flooding world markets. Only Trinidad can be judged to have achieved some success, and that is largely because of its advantage in having natural gas and oil.

    Repeat after me: manufacturing is not the way to go. Tourism, on the other hand, has raised the standard of living in the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, Aruba, Antigua, St. Kitts, St. Barts, and Barbados, all of which now have per capita incomes well above that of Grenada.

    Of course, for tourism to be successful in Grenada, its development will have to be more carefully planned. Resort properties have to be attractively designed, and building construction has to be of a high standard. It can be done.

    Reply
    • Jörgen Sammer says:
      6 months ago

      Sure Chad. But enviromental considerations has to be priotized and considred as more important than GDP growth. What is the target GDP/capita in order to resolve Grenada’s issues today? This country has done fine for several years in the past witbout a massive tourist industry.

      Reply
      • The_Economist says:
        6 months ago

        Define “fine”. Grenada is still one of the poorest nations in the region, with the lowest levels of education and health spending. Which means compared to those island which are able to invest more, Grenada will be going backwards.

        Manufacturing is not the answer, because we are neither close to our market or close to our raw materials. There is also no appetite to invest in manufacturing here.

        Agriculture is important for food security, but for it to be able to drive economic growth it would have to be scaled up to such an extent as to make it viable to trade goods as well as consume.

        What other strengths does Grenada have that it can create opportunities for growth and development if not our location and beauty? Yes, it needs to be better managed. More responsibly managed. But because our leadership don’t manage the development does not mean ALL development is bad

        Reply
        • Jörgen Sammer says:
          6 months ago

          With “fine” I mean quality of life. More developed countries i the Caribbean are not better places to resident because their tourist sector are bigger and their GDP / capita are higher e.g. Dominican republic. What you are saying is that there is only one sector that could grow in Grenada and this country has been a failure since independence.

          Reply
    • A. Japal says:
      6 months ago

      Chad Chen It was said in 2017 that we got oil in Grenada. I would look forward then to the development our manufacturing as is the case in T&T, as you said. But since then WE THE PEOPLE haven’t heard a thing about the oil. Alas, no oil no manufacturing. We will not be just poor but we will also loose our beaches to tourism.

      Reply
      • 嗨,中国 says:
        6 months ago

        as chinese we dont like developing for grenada. i respect the way grenadians feel about the government having hotels being built. i think as china i think they should start an oil and gas industry and a manufacturing industry like trinidad. Chinese believe in you grenada!

        Reply
    • If we dont have tourism we will go doomed. says:
      6 months ago

      quick to forget about the renegade rum distillery. shows how blank minded you are

      Reply
      • Jojhn jjThomas says:
        6 months ago

        We have had tourism and we are still doomed so what is the point?

        Reply

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