MP for Central Leeward Maxwell Charles on Monday said he wants “to refute any statements made” about his ability to be a representative in Central Leeward.
His comments, at a Unity Labour Party (ULP) press conference came one week after a surreptitious recording surfaced in which Sir Louis Straker, who has come out of retirement to replace Charles as the ULP’s candidate in Central Leeward, described Charles as a laid back politician who failed to represent his constituents.
“… in no uncertain terms, I would like to refute those statements, wherever they are made, whether it be CNN, BBC, or wherever,” said Charles on Monday, without referring specifically to Straker or the comments. (See video below)
“Listen, Charles is my brother and is my good friend and is a fine gentleman — a nice person. But there were a lot of complaints about him that he is too laid back,“ Straker said in the recording.
Straker said that when constituents came to him, he told them he is not the representative for Central Leeward and that they should go to Charles.
“They will just suck their teeth and walk ‘way as if to say tha’ waste of time. Listen, Maxwell is a fine gentleman, but I don’t think he is cut out for –” Straker said.
In 2010, Charles replaced Straker as the ULP’s candidate in Central Leeward. Straker represented the constituency from 1998 to 2010.
Speaking at the same press conference on Monday, Straker said he “had some criticism as to the style, not to the substance of Maxwell.
“And it’s completely blown out of context,” he said.
Two disgustingly weak men, neither of whom deserve to be a candidate. One willing to cower, the other willing to take advantage. Neither have the qualities that one would expect from real men with an ounce of self dignity.
I blame Gonsalves for making this situation, imposing people on a constituency, against the will of the local ULP members and ULP constituents, its a disgraceful flagrant act of anti-democracy.
How high must a man jump to get a Gonsalves recommended Knighthood in SVG? [from the very Queen he wants to get rid of] and how long must that man keep bouncing afterwards?
By the way there are different ranks of Knighthood KCMG is inferior to GCMG. The whole British system of awards are to do with rank, superiority and inferiority. For instance as a knight Straker KCMG is inferior in rank to GCMG Ballantyne who is superior in rank to Straker. KCMG Mitchell is also of inferior rank to Ballentyne but of equal rank to Straker. So as knights both Straker and Mitchell are of inferior rank, some would say second class, but I would not describe it as that, different class yes, inferior yes.
Had Mitchell and Straker not have been citizens of a British Commonwealth Country they would not be able to use the title Sir, but would only be able to use the letters after their names.
The terminator picture was setup many moons ago and was waiting to be released at the right time. There were backroom plans to stage this incident with Maxwell and this so-called challenger. Why wasnt a transparent run-off done to select Louis, Maxwell and the upstart? Maxwell would have won that race, so they had to stage this incident to stop a run-off. Then they had to get Maxwell to indorse Straker to indicate he gave in willingly. What went on was political bullying and thats not the first time Ralph has perform this act. Jomo was selected using the same undemocratic and unscrupulous system. The only person who rejected it was Lat (May he rest in peace). He refused to let Ralph dictate or select his choice to run in the constituency. He had also rejected Louis and Ralphs agenda to put Louis in the South Leeward constituency.
The saying a picture is a thousand words is so apparent at that press conference. Maxwells face, voice and body language shows hes uncomfortable and in pain. It probably pained him to be sitting next to the man who started the rumour about his failure to represent his constituency. Ironically both only helped the folks who voted for them. Louis refused to help a young lady whose family members had voted NDP. That practice is the trade mark of the ULP and I perpetuated throughout the entire island. I dont think folks should have been surprised at Louis traitorous behaviour against Maxwell. He did the same thing against the Layou people with the Bigut water. Incidentally the Bigut water was supposed to create hundreds of jobs for the Layou people. The same jobs, jobs hes planning to create with the Mt Wynn Resort pipe dream.
All Ralphs candidates are promising to create jobs, and do wonders when they get elected. My question to them: why not have Ralph create those jobs now? They would be relegated to the back of the bus and have no voice in decisions taking place in the front. Thompson, Straker, Saboto and many others have nothing positive to place before the voters. Where have they been for the last 4 years? How can the now ask people to vote for them when they were missing in action? They have not created job but have killed jobs and job creation ventures. Biggers incident is a typical example of a case where the ULP placed many people on the poverty line. Thats probably where all of SVG may end up.
Well actually there’s an even lower rank. There’s CMG – Call Me God; then KCMG – Kindly Call Me God; and the top dog GCMG – God Calls Me God!
By the way, I didn’t invent those designations. That was done by British Civil servants commenting on the status aspirations of their various department heads who hope/expect to retire with a knighthood