Caribbean & Central America - July 2008 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Following a resounding victory in Grenada's 8 July general election, National Democratic Congress (NDC) leader Tillman Thomas was sworn in as prime minister on 9 July, ending 13 years of New National Party (NNP) government. In his inauguration ceremony he pledged to “display the politics of inclusion by partnering with everyone. You can depend on us for openness and transparency". he said.  The NDC took 11 seats in the 15-seat parliament, leaving the NNP with four.

The most obvious conclusion to draw from the election result is that the outgoing prime minister, Dr Keith Mitchell, was just the latest in a growing list of Caribbean incumbents ejected by the electorate (joining his counterparts in Jamaica, Barbados, Belize also removed from power over the past year).  The NDC's election campaign was all about promoting change, and attacks on the party for harbouring former revolutionaries ultimately failed to have an impact, in part because Thomas was able to point to the fact that he was jailed under the Cuba-aligned government of Maurice Bishop and was in prison at the time of the 1983 US invasion.  Besides, as the NDC manifesto said, “they, like thousands of other Grenadians, were products of their age and deserve to participate in all the mainstream institutions of their country".

The campaign had been marked by some vitriolic exchanges.  Apart from the NNP's attempts to use opposition links to the revolutionary era to its advantage, it had ranted that “the very soul of the [NDC] is in the grip of the ugliness of authoritarianism", and that this “disposition towards an authoritarian temper in the NDC is Stalinist in character..."

Not to be outdone, the NDC compared Keith Mitchell to Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.  In the NDC's manifesto, Thomas wrote that having lived through every political administration since independence, he had observed that “the longer [Grenada's] many promising leaders stay in office, and the more they are allowed to remove the political checks and balances, the more they become intoxicated with power and begin to behave like 'maximum leaders'".

Thomas followed this up with a national address on 7 July in which he said: “Our country is quickly becoming like Zimbabwe.  The similarities between Mitchell and Mugabe are clear. They are both desperate despots who do not have the support of their people_[and]_ are trying to use any means necessary to stay in power."

Mitchell's earlier tirade against the NDC as “Stalinist" had been prompted by some freelance road repairing done as a political stunt by the NDC.  Thomas's allegations of Mugabe-like tendencies on the part of Mitchell were in turn sparked by a decision to ban a planned NNP motorcade in the final stages of the election.  To outsiders the exaggerations seemed excessive, but there was no doubt that political tempers were running hot and Police Commissioner Winston James even felt compelled to threaten to request further help if political tensions got out of hand.  He said: “We believe whatever is happening we can handle it.  However, this situation can change easily and if this happens we would call for outside assistance."

The NDC's manifesto contained many promises of a better future but few concrete proposals.  However, one proposal that might have had an impact was the promise to reduce the cost of living by cutting import duties selected essential goods.  The provision of more affordable housing by identifying suitable land in every parish for housing projects was another popular pledge, as was that to increase the money spent on education to 15% of total government spending within the first year of an NDC government.

On health, the NDC promised to provide free health care for all children under the age of 18 and senior citizens over the age of 60 within its term of office and to develop a five-year strategic plan for hospital services. There was also a pledge to increase the old age pension from EC$130 (US$49.60) per month to “a more acceptable figure".