Grenada’s Prime Minister, Dr Keith Mitchell, says the country is facing a “new dawn’’, and he wants Grenadians to return his New National Party (NNP) to government when general elections are held on March 13.

The NNP’s main contenders at the polls will be the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which was ousted in a 15-0 NNP clean sweep in elections on February 19, 2013.

Dr Mitchell, in announcing the March 13 election date at an NNP rally at the National Stadium’s car park on Sunday, claimed that the “sun was setting’’ on Grenada, and the country was “bankrupt’’ of economic policies in February 2013, under a “clueless leader’’ and the “worst finance minister’’.

NDC’s Tillman Thomas was prime minister at the time, and Nazim Burke – now leader of the National Democratic Congress – was minister of finance.

“We met an economy that was experiencing negative growth for several years. Unemployment was about 40 percent. Salaries to public officers were being paid late; and assets were being sold to pay salaries,’’ Dr Mitchell said Sunday.

“Grenada was defaulting on its debt and were loaning money from even St Vincent and the Grenadines and other neighbouring islands, where they have their own challenges too. People were losing not just their homes, but they also were losing their minds, Sisters and Brothers. The group that was in power then not only victimized our people but they pauperized our people.’’

According to the Grenadian leader, “by the grace of God, and the sacrifice of our people, 2018 looks far different from 2013’’.

Prime Minister Mitchell boasted that, “with proper fiscal management, the cooperation from our social partners, the stimulation of investor confidence, the sacrifices of our citizens, and the overall promotion of national unity, this country has been able to experience positive economic growth averaging over five percent for the last five years’’.

He added: “Call centres are demanding more workers than we can supply. We have increased educational opportunities and the Grenadian youth are beginning to believe again. Tomorrow begins because of the work we did yesterday and that’s why we have come here today to testify. The rhythm of Grenadian life is a bouncing melody of optimism at this time.’’

Dr Mitchell described Grenada as a “blessed’’, where “our project for oil and gas exploration, I am telling you this, looks very exciting’’. He also promised that an NNP administration “shall restore public officers’ pension’’, and plans, too, on implementing National Health Insurance.

“People must not die because they don’t have the money,’’ he said. “Once we are finished restoring pensions, and implementing the National Health Insurance, we shall boldly move to implement an Unemployment Insurance Scheme, Sisters and Brothers. In other words, when people lose their jobs, their family must not go hungry’’.

NDC, which had been calling on the prime minister to set an election date, has described the upcoming polling day as “the beginning of our march to freedom’’.

“We must rally every single person, capable of voting against the New National Party, to come out and vote,’’ Burke said Sunday on the Carenage, where the NDC hosted a rally.

“We must understand that this matter is now in our hands. The choice is now in your hands,’’ said Burke, the NDC’s election candidate for St George North-East. “Let us now march forward to victory on 13 March.’’

Prime Minister Mitchell, in his address on Sunday, also referred to the choice confronting the Grenadian people as they prepare to vote.

“Sisters and Brothers, the choice now is ours,’’ he said. “Do we keep moving forward with the New National Party or do we get sidetracked with uncertainty and chaos? Do we uphold the principle of sound management or do we go back to the days of mismanagement and infighting?’’

March 13 is the anniversary of the 1979 Grenada Revolution, when the New Jewel Movement overthrew the government of then Prime Minister Eric Gairy.

And, in 1990, the nation also went to the polls to vote in general elections.