The main opposition New Democratic Party’s (NDP) candidate for West St. George, Kaschaka Cupid has asked constituents not to return Curtis King of the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) to office.
“As Maya Angelou said, ‘When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.’ Now this is a fella who declared his primary objective to enter politics is to eat a food,” Cupid, a first-time candidate, said at the opening of his campaign office in Gomea on Saturday.
“… the man made that declaration but still yet he won,” Cupid said, adding that in the upcoming general elections, “we have an opportunity to correct that wrong, put things right and vote the NDP.
“… The man not only eating a food alone but he falling asleep in Parliament, too,” Cupid said, adding that when King should be standing up and fighting and advocating for his people, “the man falling asleep after eating too much food”.
Vincentians are expected to go to the polls by November, ahead of the February 2026 constitutional deadline.
“We are going to deal with him on election day,” Cupid said of King, who is the minister of education.
“Now, the truth of the matter is, there’s a disconnect between him and the community. There must be a disconnect because, if your goal is to eat a food, and you’re grappling up everything that you could see, and you’re leaving your family and your constituents and your friends hungry, what you expect?
“People go turn on you. They must turn on you.”
Cupid noted that King, a retired educator, ended his career as principal of the St. Vincent Grammar School, one of the nation’s top secondary schools.
“Now, a long-serving teacher and a former principal of one of our highest quality schools when it comes to education, … the man has been reduced to a junior minister.”
Cupid was referring to the decision of Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves to relieve King of the tertiary education portfolio in August 2022.
“Now, let me think about this logically. Now, if his own leader has no confidence in him, how can you expect the people of West St. George to have confidence in them, too? You can’t have confidence in a junior minister.”
Cupid is entering politics even as he is the deputy comptroller of Inland Revenue.
Last year, Parliament passed a law with bipartisan support allowing public servants to take leave to pursue election to the national assembly and to be reinstated to their posts if they lose.
Cupid, who is in his early 40s, said he, as well as Phillip Jackson, another public servant who is the NDP’s candidate for Marriaqua, were making sacrifices by entering politics at this stage, as opposed to King, who did so after he retired.
“We decided to make the sacrifice for our people. We put people first. We didn’t put self first. We put our people first. That is why we offered ourselves as candidates,” Cupid said.
He said that compounding the situation, not only was King demoted to “a junior minister, but the Ministry of Education is in a total mess.
“Recently, there are termites at the ministry, there’re dogs and fleas biting students at our top secondary school,” he said, referring to the situation at the decommissioned airport in Arnos Vale, where the Girls’ High School has been located since September 2021.
“There’re students of the Girls’ High School, they may not even experience the quality of education and the bonds … a public building in which they could develop relationships with their peers.”
Cupid noted that renovation of the GHS campus at Richmond Hill has been underway for the last four years.
“And I mean, come on, as Minister of Education, you need to do better. You can’t see these things going bad and sit down and do nothing about it. You ain’t leave your mouth in yo mooma,” he said.
King hoping for a conditional past
He noted that a secondary school student has four years to prepare for their school-leaving examinations.
“… with the Education Revolution, you don’t have to pass in order to be promoted. You could receive something called a conditional pass.
“Now, the current rep, the man, had four years to engage the constituents, engage his people, connect with them on a personal level…
“Then now, for the last four years, West St. George was like a white elephant; nothing happening; nothing at all. All of a sudden you see road fixing this and that doing.
“Now, hear what the man want from us. He want us to give him a conditional pass. No, but we ain’t doing that. We ain’t doing that. On election day, we go deal with him.”
Cupid said West St. George deserves “a representative who walks with you, who listens to you, and who fights for you; someone who believes in the strength of our people, especially our farmers, and the talent of our athletes and the power of our youths, because the youths are the future of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines”.
He said that an NDP administration would “prioritise our youth and youth development”.
Cupid said that he believes in the people of West St. George, and is ready and willing to serve.
“So let us rise together. Let us restore hope. Let us rebuild West St. George and our future can only be so positive under an NDP administration.”
He said that the time for change “is now, not tomorrow.
“The time for change is now. We’re starting change tonight. We’re turning up the heat on them.”
WSG a place of ‘strength, talent and tradition’
Cupid said West St. George is a place “of strength, talent and tradition.
“Our fields have fed generations, our athletes have inspired us with pride and passion. This is a community rooted in hard work, driven by determination and bound by love for our land and our people.”
He, however, said that too many people “have started to lose hope, hope that our children would find jobs here”, adding that people are migrating for better opportunities.
“Under an NDP government, we will create the opportunity for you, where our people could stay here, build a future here, build their families.”
He said there is hope that under an NDP administration, the youth will have opportunities in sports, education and skills training, “hope that our voices will be heard and respected”.
The candidate said he sees greatness in West St. George, adding, “I see young people with raw sporting talent.
“I see farmers with unmatched knowledge of the land. I see mothers and fathers working day and night to build a better life. I see a community with spirit, resilience and potential to do great things.
“What we need now is a government and a representative who believes in that potential, who will fight for it and invest in it, and that is what I am offering you, my people.”
Cupid said that under his leadership within the NDP, they will empower farmers with access to better tools, adding that farmers will not just survive but will thrive.
“We will revive our community sports by investing in playing fields, facilities, youth programmes to nurture the next generation of athletes,” said Cupid, a former national youth cricketer.
“We have a youth empowerment programme. We would promote our athletes and we would finance them. Now we need to invest in grassroots programmes.”
He said that before the ULP came to office in March 2001, community groups were very vibrant and active in West St. George.
“Most of those community organisations are not functioning, and it has been wilfully done by this current administration. They do not support our community groups.”
He noted that Central Kingstown MP, St. Clair Leacock, and NDP vice president has advocated for a constituency development fund.
“And if there was a constituency development fund, the representative could actively engage constituents, hear their needs, hear their concerns, and address them in a meaningful way,” Cupid said.
He said that in the absence of such a fund, government MPs have an unfair advantage.
“… but let me tell you this, we have the majority support of the people, and once we continue on this trajectory, we are going to form the next government, and we can only do that with the help of our people, my people tonight.”