Four years ago, the people of Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique took a chance on a young government and leader promising to move the country forward. Judged on the record rather than on opposition and partisan rhetoric, that government has delivered.
In fact, the genius of the Grenadian people in getting behind the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and an untested and politically unknown young, charismatic leader in the person of Dickon Mitchell has paid dividends.
Today, he remains the most popular political leader in the country with a favourability rating in the high 60s. As any political strategist will tell you, that’s political gold, especially in an election.
When Hurricane Beryl tore the roofs off Carriacou and Petite Martinique in 2024, nearly every home on those islands was damaged or destroyed. Today, most of those roofs are back, businesses have reopened, and hurricane-resilient housing keeps rising across both sister isles.
That is not luck. That is government doing the unglamorous, expensive work of rebuilding a people’s home. It is part of its successful “Build Back Better” campaign.
This government has also shown the spine to defend what belongs to us. When a foreign-backed oil company failed to honour its obligations, the administration did not quietly renew the contract and hoped no one noticed. It publicly terminated the agreement, brought the technical findings to Parliament, and let the public see the receipts. That is sovereignty in practice, not just in speeches.
Still, none of this means the road ahead is easy. Politics, like cricket, can be a game of glorious uncertainties. Yes, families still feel the weight of the cost of living. As do the region and even the developed world.
Fisherfolk are still absorbing a U.S. import ban that has nothing to do with their skill and everything to do with a paperwork deadline. Crime remains a real worry. A serious government does not pretend these problems away; it says so plainly and keeps working.
What Grenade does not need right now is to gamble its recovery on an untested three-way scramble for power or hand the keys back to a party still finding its footing after three decades under one leader.
Grenada needs continuity with accountability: a government that has rebuilt what a hurricane destroyed, defended what belongs to the nation, and told the truth about what still needs fixing.
So, when the writ is finally issued, the choice will not be complicated. It will be whether Grenada finishes what it started or starts over from zero. I know which one serves Carriacou, Petite Martinique, and every parish on the mainland better.
My recommendation? Well, the NDC’s messaging should be based on three pillars. The party must intensify its continuing “conversations” with ordinary Grenadians, Carriacouans, and Petite Martiniquans. And, in my humble opinion, voters speak these three unimpeachable truths to voters.
One, “We rebuilt what broke, and we tell you the truth about it.”
Beryl recovery is the single best asset in the entire campaign – visible, completable, and emotionally resonant in exactly the seats that matter most (Carriacou & Petite Martinique, and by extension St. John and St. Patrick East).
This isn’t a talking point; it’s a tour: handed-over keys, roofed homes, reopened businesses. Pair it with the GPG oil-and-gas termination as the second half of the same character argument—”we find problems and fix them; we don’t hide them.”
That combination (crisis response + institutional integrity) is a stronger frame than either fact alone.
Two, “Steady, experienced hands in an unstable region.” Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell’s CARICOM chairmanship and international standing are contrasting metrics when tested and put against an NNP still finding its footing after Dr. Keith Mitchell’s 35-year dictatorial grip and unceremonious exit and a Democratic People’s Movement (DPM) that’s an unproven one-man movement with a so-called leader who has the unenviable reputation of jumping between political parties when he does not get his way.
In The Town of St. George voters are facing over 20 years of one-manism and “incumbent fatigue” and growing anxiety and distrust of the present member of parliament, who continues to speak loud but whose record is that of a “non-deliverer.”
Senator Claudette Joseph, the NDC candidate, is the CHANGE candidate, and her rematch with Peter David will be the most consequential and important race of this election cycle.
Three, “Finishing the job, not starting over.” Ties everything together as a closing argument and directly frames the choice against a divided opposition field, which is the NDC’s structural advantage this cycle.
However, in the Town of St. George, “finishing the job vs. starting over” cuts differently – it’s not NDC vs. one incumbent-critical opposition; it’s a three-way split. There, the sharper version of the message is “a vote for an untested movement is a vote that doesn’t actually change the ‘government’ – turning the DPM’s presence from a threat into an argument for consolidating behind the NDC.
Michael Roberts is a communications and political strategist with Common Sense Strategies Group