ULP stars shine at Largo Height

The Unity Labour Party stars shone brightly in a massive cluster under the light of the moon on Sunday, October 9, at the Largo Height playing field, at the launch of their candidate for West Kingstown, Rene Baptiste.

Ushered in by motorcycles, jubilant jumping campaigners, waving flags and banners, Baptiste was led through the thousands gathered on the field and then greeted and embraced on stage by her ULP colleagues.{{more}}

Addressing the crowd, the West Kingstown candidate thanked everyone for their support and described her nearly five years in office as a “humbling experience.” She thanked the executive of her constituency council for making sure she lived up to her commitments, and added, “representation is not only about fixing roads and doing light and water, it is not only about giving galvanise, cement and lumber. It is about the quality of their lives. About 30 comrades meet at my home and question me and tell me what their grievances are and ask what I intend to do to address them. Sometimes it is not possible always to do it, as you expect, when you expect, but I have done my best.”

Baptiste outlined some of the projects that she had completed for her constituents such as the restoration of Fort Charlotte, the building of rest rooms and broadcast facilities for the Rose Hall netball court, the renovation of the Edinboro and Montrose hard courts and sponsorships for many sporting teams. She called on all to stay focused on the projects that the ULP was about to initiate and warned them not to let go of the bone for the shadow.

She promised that the Edinboro Primary School project was forth coming as well as the restoration of the Nine Steps and relocation of the Post Office.

She announced that electricity was imminent for the 103 homes in the Buddy Gutter community and later low-income houses would also be built. She chided her rival Cummings for calling the village, “Muddy” instead of “Buddy Gutter,”

“I will sue anybody who bring any derogatory remarks against the constituents of Buddy Gutter, they are not pigs. They are people, who have told me of their grievances, they are informal settlers. You will see the distribution and transmission lines to being run, there are 103 houses there and I give you my solemn word, you will have your electric lights. I am not here to fool you but to deliver, I am here to fulfil the promises I made to you when I came for your vote.”

Reflecting on her achievements, Baptiste, who is also Tourism Minister, said that one of her first tasks had been to clean up Kingstown and this resulted in the return of cruise ships to port Kingstown.

Describing herself as the “Queen of Culture”, Baptiste said she had striven to put SVG on the map at the various tourism shows using local talent such as Starlift and Queen of Calypso Princess Monique among others. She boasted of initiating and even reviving celebrations such as Heritage Month, Breadfruit festival, Gospel Festival, and Emancipation Month.

She suggested that artistes such as Kevin Lyttle went on to the international scene during her tenure and she has the best interest of local artistes at heart.