ULP keeping people jobless says NDP’s Stephenson

NIGEL “NATURE” STEPHENSON is of the opinion that the Unity Labour Party’s (ULP) modus operandi sees them focusing on certain constituencies only when general elections are in the air.

Stephenson, the parliamentary representative for South Leeward and a New Democratic Party (NDP) politician said his allegation is given merit when one looks at the constituency of North Leeward. He said the parliamentary representative for North Leeward, the ULP’s Carlos James, “has a visiting relationship with you and comes along only on the eve of an election”.

Stephenson made the remarks last Sunday at the open session of the NDP’s convention in Petit Bordel, where he also said that North Leeward is suffering from the mismanagement of James and the entire ULP.

“That government is a government that cares absolutely nothing about the people of our country until it is election time,” Stephenson said, while adding that the ULP has neglected not only North Leeward but Central and South Leeward also.

He said people from these areas have been characterized as hopeless and in despair as unemployment has been at an all time high, but the NDP wants better for these areas and will provide better if they are voted into office.

Stephenson said that the NDP will work in the best interest of everyone, not just party supporters, to fix an unemployment problem that his numbers place at 50 per cent in North, Central and the “latter part” of South Leeward. He told the party supporters last Sunday, that youth unemployment is at 42 per cent nationwide.

“It cannot go on unabated. We have seen that this is a government that prides itself in making our people poor, and the one way they want to do so is making sure you cannot find a job,” Stephenson claimed, while adding that the ULP wants persons to come to them “with your begging bowl”.

He said the NDP places a high “premium” on people, and will work relentlessly to make sure employment is created while also stressing that many persons in the country are unable to make ends meet and need to take stock of the way they have been voting with an eye to the next general elections.

“…you must part ways with the oppressors of our land. You must part ways with the Unity Labour Party because they are the people who make you poor and make themselves rich, that is the modus operandi of the Unity Labour Party.”