ST. VINCENT: The Unity Labour Party’s (ULP) candidate for South Windward, Frederick Stevenson, hopes that the party’s infrastructural development in the constituency will convince voters to elect him to Parliament in the next general elections, due by March 2011.
“When we look at the achievement in South Windward, we have to concede that our constituency in South Windward has had its very fair share of the working of the Unity Labour Party these past nine and a half years,” he told ULP supporters in Stubbs on Thursday, Oct. 7.
Stevenson, who is contesting general elections for the first time, spoke of the low-income housing project at Diamonds and the soon to be opened centre of excellence, which will house an information communication technology incubation centre.
He said the Argyle/Peruvian Vale primary school was the first in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) built to also accommodate pre-schooler and the Biabou Police Station was “the envy of all the communities”.
South Windward is also home to the Argyle International Airport, which is under construction and is a central pillar of the ULP’s bid for a third consecutive term in office. (Go to the homepage to subscribe to I Witness-News)
The airport is the largest capital project in the history of SVG and Stevenson said that constituents will be trained to take advantage of jobs that the airport will create when it is completed.
“Because you know all international airports have bars and restaurants and so on and we want people to work in there and we want people from the community of south windward to be gainfully employed at the completion of the international airport at Argyle. So we have to ensure that we train you so that you can be gainfully employed,” he said.
“Comrades, when I started and I said that the constituency of South Windward is blessed, you can truly see why I say so. We are blessed! We are blessed! We are more than blessed and I am sure that we are the envy of many other constituencies,” Stevenson said.
He however said voters “tend to forget” the ULP’s projects, adding, “we really deserve to give the leadership of the Unity Labour Party a round of applause for ensuring that the constituency of South Windward is developed and developed to its fullest potential”.
“Comrades, I heard a gentleman saying that St. Vincent and the Grenadine, and mainland St. Vincent, doesn’t need an international airport. All we need to do is to buy four planes. Am wondering if it’s SVG Air — the little yellow planes — he is thinking about or he is thinking about some of the 19-seaters,” Stevenson said.
“But comrades, we the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines deserve more than four planes. We deserve an international airport and that is why you voted the Unity Labour Party into office and we are going to deliver that international airport at Argyle on mainland St. Vincent, come the year 2012,” he added.
And that is why you have to vote for me in South Windward, and you have to vote by extension for the Unity Labour Party in all the constituencies in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to ensure that the Argyle International Airport is completed.”
Stevenson said that if voted into office he would improve and expand the feeder road network, making it easier for farmers to transport their produce. (Follow I Witness-News on Facebook)
He also spoke of the lighting of the Stubbs playing field, exploring sports tourism, a new cemetery and more street lights in Calder.
“Comrades, this is a government that cares about the poor and the needs of our people, and that is why you support the Unity Labour Party and that is why you have people like me who are supporting and putting ourselves forward for leadership in the Unity Labour Party. Because we care, we love you and we want to ensure that you are happy with your leader.
“Comrades, gone are the days when you will hear that a road is being built in a certain place but if you belong to the next party they stop the road half way. Comrades, the Unity Labour Party is not a party like that. We are a party for all persons. We are an encompassing party. We love everybody because all of us belong to St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” Stevenson said.