ST GEORGE’S, Grenada – Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell has assured Grenadians, that a woman will become Prime Minister during his lifetime.
Mitchell, made the statement while delivering the feature address at the signing for the “Spotlight Initiative” – a project receiving grant funding from the European Union and the United Nations to combat violence against women and girls.
Mitchell, who while campaigning for the election that was held in 2018, said he would not be contesting another election, said that his vision – of having a female Prime Minister, will become reality.
“In my view, it will not take us too long in the future, we already have a Governor-General in place, the highest official in the land. It won’t take long and hopefully, it has to be in my time to have a woman prime minister in this country,” he said while pointing out that Gender Equality must become the norm.
“The evidence of this is at the top of our society, the composition of our parliament and our cabinet is indicative of such awareness. We are therefore proud of this achievement because we don’t believe to talk one thing and demonstrate it at the highest possible level,” he said.
Mitchell headed the Government from 1995 to mid-2008 when he was voted out of office after the electorate voted for the Tillman Thomas led National Democratic Congress who ruled from 2008 to February 2013. He was voted back into office in the February 2013 general elections and returned to power five years later.
On both occasions, his ruling New National Party won all 15 seats in the House of Representatives.
His time in office has seen the rise of women being elected to the Houses of Parliament.
Presently, seven of the 15 parliamentarians in the Lower House or House of Representative are women while two of the 13 parliamentarians in the Upper House or Senate are women.
In the Public service, ten of the 15 permanent secretaries are women.
The political leader of the main opposition National Democratic Congress is Franka Bernardine, while Clarice Modeste is the Deputy Chairperson of the ruling New National Party. (CMC)
