The opposition New Democratic Party’s (NDP) candidate for Central Leeward, Conroy Huggins has unveiled a 10-year plan for the constituency, which he is hoping to wrest from the Unity Labour Party, which has held it for 30 years.
“This is our time. This is our season and it is time for change. And one the things I can tell you, they cannot stop this change,” Huggins, an agriculturalist and former teacher, said at his official launch as the NDP’s candidate in Barrouallie, on Friday.
“We’re looking far ahead because the mess that they have left us in in Central Leeward it is going to take us some time to rebuild Central Leeward and to restore Central Leeward,” Huggins said.
“So, we are coming with a 10-year plan for Central Leeward, because the fact that you called me, we’re going to sustain this thing and after 10 years, we will get someone else to take us forward.”
Huggins said that the immediate focus is the 2025 election, and expressed confidence that he will win.
“… the day the real poll is done, Central Leeward is going to be coming home. …together, we will win Central Leeward.”
He said that under Vision 2025- 2035, the Barrouallie Police Station, which has been in temporary accommodation at Peter’s Hope since February 2021, will be repaired.
He said that after he spoke last year about the Barrouallie Police Station being located at Peter Hope, Central Leeward MP, Orando Brewster said in Parliament in January that the police station would be relocated to Barrouallie within the first quarter of this year.
“We are in May, five months later, up to now we ain’t see it,” Huggins said.
“It has plumbing issues. We’re going to correct it,” he said of the historic building that is the permanent home of the police station.
“The post office, which is leaking and dilapidated, we’re going to restore it,” he said.
The candidate noted that he said last year that repairing a road in Bottle and Glass, Barrouallie, will be a priority.
Huggins said he was advised that the government plans to pave the roads three months before the elections, which are widely expected by November, ahead of the February 2026 constitutional deadline.
“Well, let them know in Jamdown is down there I receive my early childhood education, we nah dotish and we nah stupid.
“So, we need the roads fixed. But even though the roads fixed before election, it’s not going to change the outcome for Central Leeward because, my people, together, we will win.”
Huggins said he has been having consultations throughout Central Leeward, which has attracted the attention of the Special Branch, with officers “taking copious notes”.
“And we telling them that’s OK. They could take the notes,” he said, adding that the ULP is “follow fashion.
“Now, they’re following us to do consultations, too. But the reason we are doing the consultations in Central Leeward, it is because we want to hear from you, your thoughts, your concerns, the things that affect you and for you to give us possible solutions.”
He said there were consultations in Keartons and in Bottle and Glass with farmers and fishers.
“They came out in their numbers, they give us great ideas,” Huggins said, adding that he has also been engaging the sports professionals.
“And we have already developed a Central Leeward sports development plan, with timelines.”
He said the three major playing fields in the constituency will be resurfaced, fenced, lighted and seating installed.
“Since I presented that, I heard they’re trying to run to Keartons now to do something at Keartons. But I told them already at the office opening, Keartons is Mix territory,” Huggins said, referring to himself by his nickname.
“I told them also, Jamdown, Bottle and Glass, Mix territory. I told them, Bagga ah Mix territory and Layou, right now turn up and we turning that around, because right now the code is together, we win; together we win.”
Huggins said farmers in Palmiste, Bellwood and Ridge Road in Layou are crying out because of the condition of the roads.
The candidate said that the Layou sea defence, which was completed in 2006, needs repair. “The jetty in Layou, right now, it is falling apart. It is totally undermined. That sea defence, this team will have to do corrective measures to that because, as we speak, it is falling apart.”
Huggins also said that the Black fish processing facility in Barrouallie is falling apart even before it is commissioned, “because when they were advised as to what to do, they didn’t take the advice.
“And as soon as you had a storm surge, the whole thing drop in,” he said, referring to the impact of Hurricane Beryl on the facility on July 1.
“They plan to get it done before election, but they’re struggling with the money,” Huggins said of the facility, which was being financed by Japan.
He said he would also address river defence in Cane Grove, where, “for years, [former MP Louis] Straker promised to do something.
“Well, we know the present guy can’t get anything done, and I have been a blessing and a curse to him. Blessing that since I came, he start to get the nod from Papa and getting a little resource now. So, he getting a couple of things done but the people already say it’s a little too late.”
Huggins said that with his sports plan and the other plans he was highlighting in Vision 2025-2035, things will get better.
“But I want to let you know that with this New Democratic Party, after the 2025 elections, from day one … our lives will get better.
“Why? Because the pressure they have us under now, that pressure will be released. And it takes you, it takes your children, it takes your grandchildren, it takes all of us to come together and together, we will win.”
Layou and Barrouallie have nearly always been Labour strongholds so first time candidate Huggins will likely lose his electoral deposit despite all these expensive promises based on money the government doesn’t have.