Vincypowa News  |  Power to the People

Editorial · Kingstown, August 13, 2026

Kishore Shallow, Where Are the “World’s Leading Investors” You Promised North Leeward?

He told North Leeward a delegation secured in Dubai would arrive in January 2026 and meet the new Prime Minister. In his own words, it was “no old talk.” It is now August.

Before the November 27, 2025 general election, Kishore Shallow stood before the people of North Leeward and made one of the most specific promises of the NDP campaign. He did not say investors might come. He did not say he hoped they would come.

Speaking at an NDP rally in Chateaubelair, Shallow disclosed that a group of high-profile global investors would visit North Leeward in January 2026, following preliminary discussions during a recent trip to Dubai. He described it as more than an exploratory mission, calling it a strategic approach to drive meaningful economic development. (St Vincent Times, ANN)

He went further. Shallow said the delegation’s first priority would be meeting the anticipated newly elected Prime Minister, Dr. Godwin Friday. He outlined plans to develop the area into a hub for tourism, sports, business and agriculture, including transforming Troumaca Bottom Bay into a modern recreational facility with a jetty, and upgrading Sharpes Playing Field in Chateaubelair to international event standards. (St Vincent Times)

And in his own words to the crowd, this was “no old talk.”

Well, Dr. Shallow, January came. January went. February came. February went. We are now in August 2026.

The Questions That Deserve Answers

• Who were they, and what companies did they represent?
• What countries did they come from?
• When did they arrive in St. Vincent and the Grenadines?
• Where are the photographs of this international delegation?
• Where is the press release?
• Where was their meeting with Prime Minister Godwin Friday?
• How much money did they commit, and to which projects?
• How many Vincentians have been employed as a result?

Show the country the receipts.

VINCYPOWA has reviewed government announcements and local media reporting and has not found a public record of the promised January 2026 investor delegation arriving and carrying out the programme Shallow described, including the meeting with the Prime Minister.

And What About Troumaca Bottom Bay?

Here the facts require an important distinction. There is a Troumaca Bay redevelopment now moving through government processes. Community consultation has taken place, and the proposal includes repair of the existing fishing jetty alongside a new jetty, tourism facilities, improved beach access and amenities for fishers, vendors and small business owners. Shallow has described it as a development that will service Troumaca, North Leeward and the entire country. (Searchlight, St Vincent Times)

But here is the part Vincentians should notice. The project being advanced is funded by the World Bank, not by international investors from Dubai. It falls under the Unleashing the Blue Economy of the Caribbean, or UBEC, programme. UBEC Project Manager Ellsworth Dacon put the Troumaca Bay investment at an estimated US$3 million, part of a broader US$27.6 million regional UBEC project covering tourism, fisheries and solid waste management. When Shallow introduced the project during the 2026 budget debate, the state investment was reported as exceeding EC$6 million, with construction scheduled to begin in mid-2026. (St Vincent Times)

More significant still, Troumaca Bay was already identified in World Bank documentation as a site for tourism investment on the leeward coast, including a proposed coastal tourism visitor centre and rejuvenation centre, before the 2025 election campaign. (World Bank)

The project’s origins are also politically contested. Opposition Senator Carlos James, a former Tourism Minister, has claimed the initiative as his own work, saying the concept from architectural design to project components was written during his time in government and describing it as a Carlos James and ULP initiative that was midstream before the change in administration. He attributed earlier delays to the redirection of UBEC funds to farmers and fishers after the La Soufriere eruption and Hurricane Elsa. (St Vincent Times)

VINCYPOWA makes no finding on who deserves credit for Troumaca Bay. That is a dispute between the parties. What matters for this editorial is simpler. A World Bank-funded project that appears in World Bank planning documents is not evidence that elite international investors were secured in Dubai.

You cannot campaign by telling the people you personally went overseas, secured the interest of elite international investors and promised they would arrive in a particular month, and then point to a World Bank-funded government project as though it proves the campaign promise was fulfilled. It does not.

“This Is No Old Talk”

Those words may now be the most demanding part of Shallow’s own speech, because he raised the standard. He told the people this was not idle political talk. He presented the investor mission as something already arranged. He said he had held discussions in Dubai. He gave the country a month, January 2026. He even told Vincentians whom the delegation would meet first.

That is not a vague five-year manifesto aspiration. That was a specific, measurable campaign representation. And specific promises deserve specific accounting.

The Excuses Should Also Be Over

The election is over. The cheering is over. The rallies are over. The votes have been counted. The NDP has the government. Godwin Friday is Prime Minister. Kishore Shallow is the parliamentary representative for North Leeward and Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Sustainable Development.

Campaign promises do not evaporate after Election Day. North Leeward did not vote for beautiful speeches about Dubai. The people cannot eat discovery missions. Young people cannot get jobs from investors nobody can identify. A constituency cannot be transformed by announcements alone.

And the same standard applies regardless of which party is in office. VINCYPOWA applied it to the previous administration and applies it now.

Kishore Shallow, you said it was “no old talk.” Fine. Then prove it.

Where are the investors? Who are they? When did they come? Where is the money? Where are the jobs? Where is the January 2026 discovery mission you told North Leeward was already arranged?

The burden is no longer on the people of North Leeward to believe Kishore Shallow. The burden is now on Kishore Shallow to produce the evidence that what he told them before they voted was more than campaign talk.

VINCYPOWA News has invited comment from Dr. Kishore Shallow and the Ministry of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Sustainable Development, and will publish any response in full.

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