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Carlos James, ULP candidate for North Leeward. (IWN photo)
Carlos James, ULP candidate for North Leeward. (IWN photo)
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The ruling Unity Labour (ULP) Party’s candidate for North Leeward, Carlos James, has accused area representative Roland “Patel” Matthews of the New Democratic Party of “playing politics” with the tragic deaths of three constituents Sunday night.

Three members of a Spring Village family died when a car plunged over a cliff in Coulls Hill Sunday night.

They are George Johnson, 89, Venola Ollivierre (also known as Icylma Johnson), 65, and Denzil Johnson, 22.

Two other persons, Kemral Williams, 24, said to be the driver of the vehicle, and Neville Charles, 45, were hospitalised.

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Speaking on radio on Monday, Matthews said he blames the government for the deaths, noting that he has highlighted the fact that the road where the accident occurred needed repairs.

He said nothing was done even after someone died there in a similar incident last year.

MP for North Leeward, Roland "Patel" Matthews. (IWN file photo)
MP for North Leeward, Roland “Patel” Matthews. (IWN file photo)

But James said in a statement on Tuesday that the Matthews’ comments are “unfortunate, untimely and in poor taste”.

James noted that when there are multiple deaths from accidents of this nature the entire nation mourns.

“I believe that the deaths are not simply a personal tragedy — as in the case of Spring Village, an entire community is mourning,” he said.

“This is no time to play politics, not when people have lost their lives. I know what it feels like to lose someone you love. My heart goes out to the families, their loved ones and friends,” James said.

“No true representative, no dignified man, would use people’s pain as a way to earn political points by blaming the government for an accident of this nature.

“The vile utterances of Mr. Matthews lacked empathy and displayed not an ounce of decency, leadership or compassion for the people he claims to ‘represent,’” James said and urged continued pray for those affected.

But Matthews fired back in a post on Facebook on Wednesday, saying, “I was ridiculed and called all kind of names for standing up for the people who duly elected me to serve them. My question is … does the ulp candidate for NL believe that I am stupid and dotish [stupid] for standing up for the people of NL?”

10 replies on “James accuses Matthews of ‘playing politics’ with Coulls Hill tragedy”

  1. Mr James like all the other Unity Marxist Party ULP, all want to stifle the truth lest it hurts them.

    The truth is that Mathews warned of a tragedy if the wall was not repaired and it came to pass that tragic accident happened exactly where Mathews warned of, why? because the government and in particular at the time Julian Francis refused to heed the call of Mr Mathews.

    It is a fact that a contributory factor in these deaths is government and relevant ministers failing to act in a way that their public office requires of them. Just as they failed to act for thirteen years in installing river defences at Buccament, resulting in the deaths of poor folk by drowning at Christmas 2013. They were warned almost every year in annual reports but failed in their duty of care to the people.

    1. Luther Bonadie says:

      Peter,
      Why don’t you take a long walk on a short pier, and blame the government for the result.

      1. Isn’t the truth annoying? especially when you have no argument against what I wrote. Because in the case of Buccament the minister of finance and the minister of works were both on the distribution list’s so yes your quite right we can directly and accurately apportion blame to them. Isn’t the truth annoying?

        In the case of the wall there is documentary evidence also, isn’t the truth annoying?

  2. Luther Bonadie says:

    Patel,

    It is so funny how a man could see himself for what he is, knowing that; he has the stupidity to ask another if he is dotish ( stupid ).

    Let me remind you that folks had you down as stupid a log time ago, Why It took you so long to realize that.

    Slip sliding away.

  3. C. ben-David says:

    James is right. The bodies were still warm when Matthews rushed in to see if he could score a few cheap political points.

  4. petergriffin says:

    I am sure that Patel would have expressed his condolences to the family of the deceased even though it was not mentioned in this article by Iwitness news.The problem is that a lot of us just hate to see or hear anything negative being said against our slave masters.I am sure that if a lot of us were to use our correct names on this site and declare our hands upfront then it would have been much easier to see why we post those kinds of responses and continue to address people in all those derogatory terms.Soon or later the truth will come to light.I believe in the most high god.I wonder if some of you and you all slave master believe in Jesus Christ.

    1. Luther Bonadie says:

      Peter Griffin,
      Tell me is this your real name ?
      Now listen , in human terms there is no negative and positive in politics. What is positive for you maybe negative for me, and vise versa, it’s all about perception brother.
      Truth also is perception, God or Jesus as you mention also perception.
      Let me say this my friend, slavery as we come to know it , was perceived a bad thing for the Black man , but for the White man it was a good thing.
      Trust in yourself, work had and pray to God for health; for everything else is perception.

  5. My condolence go out to the bereaving family.Let us not forget, that the North Leeward Highway, as it was named, was rebuilt by the NDP government. They did not see the need to build a wall in the area. Almost two decades later there is a tragedy and a member of the same party is accusing the next party of failing to build a wall that they should have built in the first place.during the road construction of the road.. How ironic!
    The area needs wall indeed. Infact from Belle Isle to Spring Village, Coulls Hill to Roose bank, Petit Bordel Hill to Chateaubelair there is a need to have retaining walls to protect the lives of our people.. Patel is right on that one. A wall would also have prevented the German Gutter tragedy.

  6. petergriffin says:

    Who the cap fit let them wear it.I didn,t mention your name Luther but maybe you have a guilty conscience.I have given up holding any discourse with you because I already see your biased line of reasoning.Of course Petergriffin is not my real name.One cannot be openly critically of this ULP government without exposing oneself to the likes of Hans King and Elson Crick who would verbally attack you instead of the message you are sending.In this country only Ralph Gonsalves and his worshippers have sense and can comment on issues.Remember Hans King said it is not free for all when Anesia Baptiste was slapped with the sixteen charges.

  7. Peter griffin or I should Peter gonsalves had a wall been created by the ndp when they rebuilt the north leeward highway and this accident did occur who were to be blame? Secondly let’s be realistic and examine the factors that Causes that accident which I don’t have the report from the transportation board or of that of the police but for argument sake let’s say it was a mechanic failure, how could any political party be blame? What if the driver was under the influence and traveling at a high speed? Or what if rge driver had to swayed away from another reckless driver and lost control. Yes with a wall in place maybe the death toll could have been lessened we don’t know so again it’s not humane for either politicians to take what happened to jab the other.

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