The ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) of Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell is planning to bring out a crowd of between 8,000 to 10, 000 at Sunday Mega rally in the South of the island to mark its 4th anniversary in office and to kick-start its election campaign to give Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell another 5-year term in office.
A senior party official told THE NEW TODAY that each Constituency on the island is bringing out in excess of 15 busloads of supporters in an effort to create “a sea of yellow” at the Morne Rouge playing field in the South St George Constituency.
He said that the National Secretariat has committed to paying 5 buses per constituency with the financial responsibility of the other buses to be met by each NDC Constituency branch office.
He described as “very well” the kind of mobilisation taking place by Congress to bring out a massive crowd to send a message to the opposition New National Party (NNP) now headed by former Education Minister Emmalin Pierre and the small Democratic People’s Movement (DPM) of former Foreign Minister Peter David.
“Quite a lot of people have shown interest (in the rally) so we are mobilising the buses and so on,” he said.
According to the party insider, some of the MPs’ will have in excess of 20 buses carrying their supporters to the rally and “if there is a need for more (buses) then we will put on.”
He joked when asked if the party had put aside a massive “limitless” budget for Sunday’s rally in order to bring out its mass base to showcase to the country.
“Not really – I have been saving up for any rally and so on. I will put money towards my buses and the National Executive giving us some,” he remarked.
The party official is confident that Sunday’s event at Morne Rouge “will be pretty good” and definitely set the stage for the kind of effort that Congress will undertake to win the upcoming general election.
He noted that when the NNP held its last convention a few weeks ago it shied away from having an open rally but instead chose to engage in an indoor setting.
However, he said the NDC is having a much different approach and wants to showcase its support base to the Grenadian people.
He said: “…When the other guys (NNP) did theirs, they did an internal meeting, they didn’t do anything in the open – they did theirs in the building but we’re going out in the (open) field,” he said.
Speculation is rife that the NNP is cash-strapped at the moment and that most of its candidates have to find the financial resources on their own to engage in political work at the Constituency level.
THE NEW TODAY contacted one of the NDC’s frontliner in rural Grenada who indicated that the mood on the ground is growing for Sunday’s mass rally.
“Everybody wants to go in this thing,” she quipped.
The female Congress activist pointed out that some Constituencies have mobilized about 15 buses, as well as a number of trucks and other private vehicles to head out of St Andrew, passing through St David’s in the form of a motorcade into Grand Anse for the rally in which Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell is expected to deliver a key-note address.
THE NEW TODAY understands that the constituencies on the western side of the island – St Patrick East, St Patrick West will come down on the western side of the island to join up with St Mark, St John, St George North-west and the Town of St George to converge on the Morne Rouge playing field.
She said the atmosphere in the country is currently pro-Dickon Mitchell and from all indications Congress is heading for a massive victory whenever the general election is held.
She added that the country is definitely not “pro-NNP” at the moment and ruled out chances of DPM’s Peter David at the polls.
“One of the things that people see happening is that Peter – instead of growing, he is losing support – people going back to NDC, people going back to NNP.
“I know a lot of areas where people are saying, “I ain’t fighting a losing cause, ah going with NDC.” I know personally areas where people reach out to me and say that is the decision we took.
DPM is an off-shoot of the NNP.
The party was formed against the backdrop of the decision of David to resign from NNP in December 2024 after he came in for a barrage of public attacks from former Prime Minister Keith Mitchell who was opposed to his ambitions to replace him as the new party boss.
David’s resignation saw the exodus from NNP of a number of key persons like former government minister Claris Charles and Dr. Bert Brathwaite, a one-time close ally of Keith Mitchell.
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has until 2027 to call fresh general elections in Grenada.