NLM Launches Reform Agenda with Term Limits, Debt Reduction, and Youth Service 

By Val Matthias. Updated 11:42 a.m., Wednesday, November 26, 2025, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).

The newly established National Liberation Movement (NLM), led by retired diplomat Dr. Doris Debra Charles, has unveiled its 2025–2030 manifesto, pledging sweeping reforms to reshape governance, revive the economy, and empower citizens under the slogan “Together We Will.”

The manifesto outlines a bold plan to introduce a two term limit for Prime Ministers, strengthen accountability through a revitalised Public Accounts Committee, and enact a Freedom of Information Act to guarantee transparency in government.

On the economic front, the NLM promises to tackle the country’s EC$3 billion public debt and reduce unemployment currently estimated at 44 per cent to below 10 per cent within its first term. The party’s recovery programme emphasises agriculture revival, small business development, and investment in technology and renewable energy.

Dr. Charles highlighted the importance of youth engagement, announcing a National Youth Service Programme for secondary school graduates, combining civic education, skills training, and community service. The manifesto also commits to a National Health Insurance Scheme, expanded access to healthcare, and modern forensic facilities.

Education reform features prominently, with plans to integrate digital literacy, STEM, and Garifuna and Swahili language studies into curricula, alongside vocational training centres in every parish. The NLM also pledges to strengthen climate resilience, promote eco-tourism, and deepen regional and international partnerships through economic diplomacy.

“Our policies are not promises they are plans for action,” Dr. Charles declared. “It is time to liberate our nation from constitutional stagnation and redefine our future in alignment with the people’s will.”

With its symbol of the bicycle representing balance, sustainability, and progress the NLM positions itself as a reformist alternative in the upcoming general elections, promising to deliver measurable results through performance-based governance.

The NLM’s manifesto enters a crowded political field. The ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) launched its own 107-page manifesto earlier this month under the theme “A Contract with the People for National Transformation,” outlining priorities in jobs, healthcare, housing, education, agriculture, tourism, and cost-of-living relief. Meanwhile, the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) has branded its manifesto as a “document of hope and change,” pledging jobs, safer communities, infrastructure renewal, and youth empowerment.

Together, the three manifestos set the stage for Vincentians to weigh competing visions of governance, economic recovery, and social progress as the nation heads into the November 27 general election.

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