Four months after the New Democratic Party (NDP) swept the Unity Labour Party (ULP) out of power after 25 years in government, the newly-minted opposition is preparing to escalate its political pushback against the ruling administration, according to opposition leader and former prime minister Ralph Gonsalves.
Gonsalves, who retained his own parliamentary seat in the November 2024 election as the sole ULP representative to win office, laid out the case for intensified opposition action during an appearance on his party’s owned broadcaster Star Radio Monday. The opposition leader highlighted three core areas of alleged mismanagement by the new government that are driving its planned escalation: widespread dismissals of public sector and allied workers, irregular payment of salaries and benefits to multiple groups of workers, and controversial actions related to state land transactions.
Among the land disputes Gonsalves cited was a case involving a female buyer who entered into a land purchase agreement with the previous ULP administration and submitted an initial down payment in October 2024, just weeks before the election. Since the NDP took office, the buyer has been blocked from making any further installment payments on the property, effectively freezing the transaction. Gonsalves said he intends to coordinate with Saboto Caesar, the former ULP lands minister and an attorney by training, to pursue legal redress for aggrieved parties like this buyer, noting that binding contracts are being disregarded by the new government.
“NDP is pushing forward policies that harm working-class and low-income people, from freezing land purchases to holding back paychecks,” Gonsalves said, criticizing the government’s slow response to emerging national issues. He specifically called out the administration’s delayed reaction to market disruptions linked to the Iran conflict, noting it took more than a month for officials to announce any policy response—an action that ultimately only amounted to creating a new task force rather than implementing immediate solutions.
The NDP government has formally established a task force to address the outstanding salary and economic issues raised by the opposition, with the group scheduled to deliver its preliminary recommendations to Prime Minister Godwin Friday’s cabinet on April 24. Friday has so far declined to publicly comment on potential policy changes, stating that he does not wish to prejudge the task force’s findings. Gonsalves dismissed this approach as a classic delaying tactic, arguing that after four months in office, the NDP administration has failed to deliver any meaningful action on key domestic challenges including rising consumer prices, worker payment issues, and land rights.
“There is little to no forward momentum in the country right now,” Gonsalves said. “After four months, all we have is firings, unresolved land disputes, late and missing paychecks, and zero action on the cost of living. This government is just kicking the can down the road and hoping problems disappear on their own.”
To counter what the opposition calls ongoing governmental mismanagement, Gonsalves confirmed that the ULP will ramp up public and political pressure, and pursue legal action in court to resolve disputes over land and contractual agreements reached under the previous administration.