Grenada’s PM Dickon Mitchell urges Dominica Labour Party to celebrate 75 years and stand strong together

Dominica: The Prime Minister of Grenada, Dickon Mitchell, addressed the Dominica Labour Party Delegates Conference today, which is being held in the Vieille Case constituency under the theme 'A Future of Hope'. He emphasized the significance of unity among the cabinet members and the sister islands.

The leader of the National Democratic Congress in Grenada and the Chairman of CARICOM urged the Dominica Labour Party to recognize its legacy of commitment and not to take its success for granted. He mentioned that the party will be celebrating 75 years of existence next year, and that is something to celebrate.

While emphasizing his role as the guest speaker at the conference, the Grenadian leader noted, "I saw an article, it says why are they coming? I'm not here because I'm the Prime Minister of Grenada, I'm not here because I'm the chief of CARICOM. I'm here because I am the political leader of a sister party called National Democratic Congress."

He then shared his own party's experience of losing all 15 seats in parliament due to infighting and highlighted the need for boots on the ground to maintain success. PM Mitchell also noted that during that tough time, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit provided constant support and encouraged him not to self-destruct and to stay united.

He added that PM Skerrit warned that, "There is one thing that Caribbean people don't like and that is when they give you political party and they put you in power instead of working for the people who put you in power, you start the fight amongst yourself for the poor that you have."

The Prime Minister emphasized that his party learned that lesson painfully and eventually lost 15 seats in Parliament. He added that through this he wants to emphasise the significance of unity among the political parties and also among the sister islands and their leaders.
He praised the Dominica Labour Party for its 75 years of existence and commitment to building the country.

While asking everyone to celebrate the huge success of the political party, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell outlined, "I hope you appreciate that next year, the Dominica Labour Party will be celebrating 75 years of existence, and I don't need to tell you that you need to celebrate that." 

"I hope you recognise that since your formation, since this party is entry into electoral politics you have won 10 times. So you need to appreciate that level of success And your longevity comes from your team. A legacy of commitment to serving the people of Dominica. A legacy of commitment to building the Dominica Labour Party and don't take this for granted," he further added. 

In addition to this, he also noted that the world really don't care about the small islands which is why it is important for he small islands to stay united. "They don't care. To them, we are too small, we are too insignificant but we have to appreciate that and rally around the people who support and fight for our countries and you have a leader who wherever he goes puts the people of Dominica and the country first," he stated.

PM Mitchell added that the growth and development of Dominica will continue under PM Skerrit because the country today is at a much better stage than 20 years ago when Skerrit emerged and became the political leader of the democratic labour party.