Certain ULP candidates should not be elected

Editor: The Unity Labour Party (ULP) has named all its candidates for the next general elections; this letter concentrates on those whom I think Vincentians should not elect.

Mr Luke Browne, Sir Louis Straker, Ces McKie, Mr Montgomery Daniel, Carlos James, Debra Charles and Mr Berisford Phillips. These seven candidates in my opinion should not be elected. My reasons are very simple; first let me begin with Mr Luke Browne.{{more}}

Mr Luke Browne is a wonderful human being; he is my friend, a young man. Youth is in his favour; politically he is not mature. We all know politically maturity comes with time and experience and that is a fact, but Mr Luke Browne has time on his side and with time he will acquire experience. The main question is what does Luke bring to the constituency of East Kingstown? It will not be representation, because he doesn’t have a track record. With that said, I can’t find anything to suggest that Mr Luke Browne would make a good parliamentarian. Could you imagine that Dr Gonsalves said it took him 40 years to get where he is today; so how does he expect to force Luke on the people of East Kingstown? The people of East Kingstown will stick with Mr Eustace, because he is a quality person and he is their best choice.

Secondly, Sir Louis Straker came and did what was to be done, retired and now is making a return. The amazing return of Sir Louis Straker says many things: Maxwell Charles is a tremendous waste of time and Mr Dunstan Johnson lacks quality; so the only hope for the ULP is Mr Straker. That is the belief of Dr Gonsalves and the ULP, but the people of Central Leeward think for themselves and won’t allow Dr Gonsalves to force them to vote for Sir Louis Straker. He is past tense; going back to Mr Straker is a very bad step. That is why the people of Central Leeward are saying no to Sir Louis Straker.

Thirdly, is Mr Ces McKie, who is the parliament representative for my constituency. I know him very well; he is a community man, but a poor representative for the people of West St George. There is nothing I can think of that he did to make the lives of the people of West St George better. We had Arthur Williams, Marcus De Freitas, Yvonne Francis Gibson and Mike Browne and now Ces. We are yearning for a change; we are changing Ces because he is making a mess in the West! It’s time for a change in West St George; it’s time for a person like Jules Ferdinand to clean up the mess left by Ces.

Fourthly, Mr Montgomery Daniel is an agriculturist; he once served as the Minister of Agriculture. Under his watch, the agriculture industry tremendously declined; in my opinion he is the ULP’s biggest failure. The question is what did he do? Why are the people of North Windward so disappointed with Mr Montgomery Daniel? Is it because of the high crime rate that is lurking in North Windward? Or is it because of under employment in North Windward? For one who is from North Windward, it is really shameful for him to have to get Dr Gonsalves to convince the people of North Windward to give him another chance, but I am suggesting to the people of North Windward to put their trust in the NDP and Lauren Baptiste.

Fifthly, Mrs Debra Charles. From what I have heard, I have the opinion that you are a wonderful person and that is nice, because we need quality persons in Parliament. But the wait for Ms Debra Charles is a long wait. Mr Cummings won in every polling station. Dr Gonsalves and Senator Francis know that Ms Charles can’t win, but yet they encourage her. Why? Is it because they cannot find anyone else? Oh, what a casualty!

Sixthly, Mr Berisford Phillips is running for the ULP in Central Kingstown; he is the weakest candidate in the ULP. Back in 2010, he was disappointed that he was not elected to be the candidate in the ULP camp. The people of Central Kingstown are confused with Mr Phillips. The question is, can he be trusted politically?

Dr Gonsalves is not worrying, because he knows Mr Phillips can’t win; he is just there to fill the gap. Let me remind the people of Central Kingstown that Dr Gonsalves said that Mr Leacock could not have won, but the people of Central Kingstown proved him wrong.

These candidates I mentioned in my writing are very weak.

The ULP always boasts about attracting quality persons, but because of the strength of the NDP in these constituencies, North Windward, Central Kingstown, West Kingstown, East Kingstown, West St George, North Leeward and the Southern and Northern Grenadines, the NDP is best placed to win the next general elections. When you think that they have to work hard to convince Vincentians to give them a chance to govern this country, it is easy, because most Vincentians know they deserve a chance.

Kingsley DeFreitas