ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA; There was an excitement and a magic to the last four weeks of the opposition’s campaign in the run up to last November’s general elections that captured such a national imagination it almost came from nowhere to form the government. That magic has gone, and the opposition National Democratic Congress has come up short of ideas at a time when many had expected so much. Its first 100 days in opposition has not been the resounding success as some had expected, and a few others had predicted. Its position on some issues remains unclear and not well articulated, and in the aftermath of the euphoria of its election success it has failed to ignite the passion of a big junk of the Grenadian population willing to be led. If the truth be told, the NDC has missed a few beats, and has given a wounded government breathing space it no doubts welcomes. In the first 100 days since the elections, the opposition has failed to manage and nurture the growing credence for change that was manifest last November. It is indeed in danger of conjuring up the image of part-time politicians who were lucky to ride the wave of change. For the most part of last year, the ordinary people fashioned and led the wind of change. What the NDC has failed to do since then is effectively grab at the momentum and lead from there. It has not taken a national agenda and run with it, as it did successfully in the dying days of the last general elections campaign. Some hard individual work is being done at the constituency levels especially in places as Town of St George and St George’s South, but work at the national level has been neglected. As of now NDC comes across as a regional party, operating well at a local government level in some parts, but not a genuine national movement. With each representative now focused on consolidating their individual area, the NDC is running the risk of appearing to be 15 fractious parts bent on it own survival rather than a genuine national movement waiting to take up the reigns of government. The party needs to go back to figuring out what is its real national agenda, and find the will and the resources to mobilize around it. Organizationally it has been found wanting, and its recent convention has shown that its work in the field has become sloppy. Maybe the expectations of what the party can do in opposition were always too high, but its apparent lack of bite is testing the patience of some of the many constituents part which rode the wind of change – from public servants to the labor movement. Already there are some grumblings at the grassroots level. At least they want their party of change to show more bite. SOURCE: CARIBUPDATE.COM