Community leader Abdon Whyte, who had been identified as the forerunner to become the next candidate for the ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) in the Southern Grenadines, says he no longer supports the new frontrunner, Chevonne Stewart.
Whyte said he will attempt to register to vote in West St. George, where he is renting an apartment.
Stewart, the chief radiographer in the Ministry of Health, has been transferred to the Ministry of Housing through Dec. 31.
Opposition Leader Godwin Friday said the government has sent Stewart to “distribute lumber and galvanise” to boost her election bid ahead of the general election, widely expected by November, ahead of the February 2026 constitutional deadline.
Whyte, speaking on Boom FM on Tuesday, expressed a similar view but also suggested that Stewart should focus on the health services she promised to return to Union Island following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Beryl on July 1.
“We need our health services in Union back up and running properly,” Whyte said, adding that the Selena Clouden Hospital was operating again.
“Probably the best thing she could do is focus on getting the Ashton Clinic up and running, getting dental services back, and getting radiology services that she … promised is coming to Union Island up soon.
“I think that probably would have been most fitting. Housing, right now, I think they need proper guidance. I think they’re kind of all over the place and they need to refocus properly,” he said.
Whyte also portrayed Stewart as classist and not having a deep connection to the Southern Grenadines even as she faces an “uphill battle” against the New Democratic Party’s (NDP) Terrance Ollivierre, who is seeking a sixth consecutive five-year term.
“I actually want to vote and I’m not voting for Chevonne. … I’m telling you, I support people who support me,” Whyte said on the radio show.
Whyte, who was transferred from the classroom to help with the recovery from Hurricane Beryl, said he was yet to receive any assistance from the government to rebuild his home.
“I don’t deserve this. The Whytes don’t deserve this… I ain’t supporting nobody who ain’t supporting me. Straight up,” he said.
“If Chevonne decides she wants to tarnish my character, tarnish my name, pressure my family, you ain’t give me no material assistance, and you’re making noise…”
‘attacks to my character’
Whyte said he decided in late December, early January to enter the race to become the ULP’s candidate for the Southern Grenadines, adding that at that point he found out that Stewart was also interested in running.
Whyte emphasised that he is a Unionite and loves Union Island and the Southern Grenadines.
“…when you’re dealing with some people sometimes, especially when you want to go into politics, I think sometimes people become very nasty,” he said, adding that recovering from the category 4 hurricane has “taken its toll on me”.
“I’m very tired. I’ve seen the toll that’s taken on my mom; she still lives in a shelter,” said Whyte, whose father, Othneil Whyte, a Customs guard, drowned during a shootout between police and then-suspected Venezuelan drug runner in 2012 in Union Island.
A coroner’s inquest into his death and that of the three Venezuelans that Vincentian police shot and killed in the incident was never concluded.
“I made a decision that, ‘Look, I’m going to step back. I can’t deal with back and forth. They say, that say; people causing conflict; some people who just come from wherever they come from,” Whyte said, adding that at that point he decided to support Stewart.
“Miss Stewart, … she’s very aggressive … When she wants something, she goes after it hard. I have received a number of attacks to my character.”
Whyte said he once told Stewart that he was not in the race, and the contenders were Ollivierre and Nkosi Stewart, who is said to be planning an independent candidacy bid after his efforts to replace Ollivierre as the NDP’s candidate failed.
“… ‘there’s no reason to try to pressure me in any way or go after my character in any way,’” Whyte recalled telling the other ULP contender.
“And I think she never stopped,” he said. “I know what I went through. I know what my family and I are going through, and although I might be able to stomach it, when you start going after people that are close to me, it kind of rubs me the wrong way, bro.
“So, nah. I think at that point I kind of, I decided for my mental health and the mental health of everybody close to me, I think it was best that, you know, because, you know,” he said, adding that he decided on his own.
‘I support people who support me’
Whyte said he called Stewart on April 3 and invited her to dinner, where he told her, “Listen, go ahead. I’m no longer interested. Just, do your thing.’ And I decided I was going to step back.
“… I’m a very popular guy on the ground. People will say good things; people say bad things about me. As I said, I born and grow in Union Island. If a war is coming to Union Island, I’ll be the first guy if I’m overseas, to run back home. And it’s the same thing I did after Beryl: I ran home and I did whatever I could do to help my island recover.”
Whyte said he had a conversation with Stewart’s sister, who had contacted him “about probably not supporting their event for Carnival.
“And I said, ‘Listen, I support people who support me.’ And when you give a person 1, 2, 3, chance…”
Whyte said that his family is “pretty much still homeless”, noting that Stewart is now in charge of housing on the island.
In an April 30 memo, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Nerissa Gittens, informed her staff that Stewart had been transferred to the Ministry of Housing, Informal Human Settlements, Youth and Sports from April 1 to 30.
‘I didn’t wait to come to Union Island when I had a nice, cozy hotel room’
Whyte said the prime minister made a special request for the homes of people who helped in the recovery to be fixed.
“My house went on hold about two, three times. He made a second plug and when it finally came out, Chevonne gave me, like, about 200 blocks.”
Whyte said that after he could wait no longer, a guy who he had assisted helped him and the contractor did their work.
“… material was an issue. And, if I’m returning some material to somebody that I borrowed to get some work done because there was none on the ground, basically, and you have the person who in charge of housing using that opportunity to stand in the middle of the street and try to paint Abdon Whyte as a thief because he’s storing a lot of material somewhere down Campbell when I … borrowed it from a young man who’s trying to build his house and who we are good friends, and he said, ‘Look, I’ll give you this.’
“And then after that, you’re going after persons who are close to me, who Housing and HLDC is building their house to say, ‘Oh, we’re investigating this, and we’re putting this project on hold.’ That is just nasty,” Whyte said.
“I slept in the dark with mosquitoes biting me. I didn’t wait to come to Union Island when I had a nice, cozy hotel room.
“I look at even some of the expats, or foreign persons who took up Union Island. I look, for example, at King’s Landing, a local hotel, and sometimes, I wonder —” Whyte said, adding that he has not been involved in the housing recovery since November.
“And there are a number of things that we need to get. There are a number of things we got right.”
‘I received no materials’
Whyte said Stewart now “has a lot to say in terms of who gets work, who gets material.
“And I have received no material assistance for my house for where it is today. Although it was under contract, I received no materials,” he said.
Whyte said he was living on his ground floor and had to get his work done because water was seeping through the concrete floor above.
“So I did what I did. Persons helped me out however they can and I think all I attempted to do was to return persons’ material who I had borrowed. And, you know, it’s like I got a knife stab in my side.
“… No, you can’t do that. … Am I supposed to wait until housing come to give me the material? So is the contractor supposed to wait two, three weeks? Is he supposed to send home his workers when workers are so difficult to get?” he said.
“… but, at the end of the day, Chevonne is going to be the candidate. As I said, I had pledged my support to Chevonne, and I think the attacks never stopped.
“And, as I said, I will continue supporting the party. … I am renting an apartment in Belair. Curtis King is a very nice guy and I’m going to try to have my [registration] transferred.”
Whyte said he was prepared to face the consequences of his public commentary.
“What I’m doing here this morning, and what I’ve done, I am going to be under attack. I know that. There are certain people who are going to come for me, and they’re going to say all sorts of things and the rumours are going to start, and they’re going to try to bring me down,” Whyte said.
“I lost my father about 10, 12, years ago, and every day, I have to look my mother in her face, and she has to say, ‘I want to go home’,” Whyte said.
“And trust me, I’ve been patient. I’ve been very patient. I decided I was in a position where I could have gotten my house fixed, and I’m like, ‘Nah, there are a number of persons out there who need their houses fixed.”
He said the government repaired his mother’s house roof last September and he bought the windows and installed them, but his family was still working on the property.
“There are other ways that I could help doing things in the community. And I think I want to focus on that and leave politics.”
He said his mother, who lives at his apartment in Belair, fell down recently and was heading to the doctor.
“I don’t even think Curtis know who he picked up. And he picked up her and my daughter and gave them a ride. Those are the type of people we need,” Whyte said.
“I’ll support people who help people, even not knowing who they are, not only those who are in high society … We have to be careful how we speak to people, how we speak about people. And I’ve had time to observe. And as I said, I’m a big man. I make my own decisions, and I’m going to support whoever I want to support…
WOW! The ULP family members airing their DIRTY LAUNDRY in public! Abdon, the rest of us do not need to hear about your family dispute with Chevonne. Spare us. It goes to show that the ULP has long been expired and has outlived its usefulness in this country. When the NDP is elected then we would do a thorough investigation into the allegations of the theft of government materials that were stored in Campbell.