GRENADA - Over the weekend, the oldest political party in the country, the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP), held what can be accurately characterized as an ‘extremely impressive convention’ at the St. John’s Anglican school.
Hundreds of supporters from around the country gathered at the convention site in St. Johns to celebrate the rebirth of the GULP, which had become somewhat dormant after the death of Sir Eric Gairy in 1997 and was plagued by intense political infighting over the years. The political party has now emerged as a model of stability and has been able to attract a number of youthful blood to its rank, thereby adding vigor, and a futuristic look to the organization that many people previously associated with the older population in the country.
The most significant event during the convention was arguably the expression of the will of members that the young, charismatic politician, Colin Francis be the new political leader of the party. Mr. Francis is now charged with the responsibility of placing the GULP in a position of readiness to contest the next general elections in Grenada and assuming the mantle of leadership of the country after the elections. According to Mr. Francis, “In these tough economic times GULP is certainly the hope for Grenada. The party must be healed and all stakeholders must be fully on board in this process.”
When asked about the way forward for his party, Mr. Francis responded, “The focus would be to change the perception of GULP; it is not an old people's party and GULP is certainly alive. We would have elected eight young persons in the executive and will officially launch our youth arm very soon. We will also be building a strong women's arm and are looking for good candidates care-takers for Gulp.”
The new executive of GULP comprises:
Political Leader – Collin Francis
President – Wilfred Hayes (He has retained his presidency for a fourth term)
Vice President – Mark Isaac (Former minister under the NNP administration)
Deputy Political Leaders:
Patricia Gairy – (Family of Sir Eric)
Wayne Francis (formerly of the PLM)
General Secretary - Indra Hall
Assistant General Secretary - Desmond Sandy
Treasurer - Agnes Langdon
Assistant Treasurer - Grant Smith
Financial Secretary - Ali Dowden
Recording Secretary - Kelisha Felix
Assistant Recording Secretary - Earlin Francis
Trustess :
Dennis Canning
Dora Williams
Victor Slyvester
Cephus Felix
Slywen Mitchel
The GULP, the primogenital political organization on the island still in existence, was founded by the charismatic trade unionist, Eric Matthew Gairy, who also served as Prime Minister of Grenada and successfully led the country to independence from England in 1974, earning him the distinguished title of Father of Grenada’s Independence.
Grenadian Connection wishes Mr. Francis and the GULP well in all their future endeavors.
GULP HAS NEW POLITICAL LEADER
Maurisa Bishop, I like your name. While I respect your opinion with regards to "... the only person that made our country up to standard....", I beg to differ. I believe you are referring to the Leader of the Opposition. While on one hand the Opposition can be partly credited for the new developments; more businesses, more and larger buildings, much more vehicles and larger ones also, on the roads. We haven't seen improvement in water supply, roads and drainage for example. I remember bus drivers going on strike for better roads not too long ago, while the opposition was in power. I have seen severe floodings in places like River Road also during the NNP reign and our present water problem should have been less severe. To my humble opinion, in order for a country to be up to standard, improvements should have been also made in the areas that I just mention. Things should move forward uniformly. However, I am not condemning the NNP for that. That's just my constructive critism. There are also past Administrations that made great improvements in Grenada, therefore I respectfully disagree with your statement. It's important that we can agree to disagree and not become disagreeable. We both love Grenada dearly and would love to see great progress in our Spice Isle, in the near future(hopefully very near). I also agree with Zephyr's response with regards to the GULP Political Leader's remark about young/old peoples party. Peace out.
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By: Joe 4/1/2010 9:21:44 PM
Maurisa, I think you have taken the comment completely out of context. If you live in Grenada, you will know that people referred to the GULP as a party for a bunch of old people and there were not any young blood in the party, so it is doomed to die when the old people die out. Mr. Francis means that the party is not an 'old people party' in that context, but that it now contains a number of young people - the perception of the party, therefore, needs to be changed.It is now a party with a mixture of youth and experience.
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By: Zephyr 3/28/2010 3:29:24 PM
LIKE THE NOW LEADER OF THE g.u.l.p said. "we are not a old people party". shame on you. is the old people that kept the faith in that party. and remember is the children of those old people you are counting on now to see you through, so be very carefyul what you say. and as a matter of fact god is only healing sick at this time. the time is not not here yet for him to raise dead. that party has long been dead and no way it is coming back to rule Grenada. because it will be same sh..t just different days. with people like mark issac. please...grenadian know we made a huge mistake when we voted out the only person that made our county up to standard , no matter what was said of him , and when we go to the poles we will be sure to put him back where he belong.
.JPG)
