New ULP candidate says he’s South Windward’s ‘chief servant’

The ruling Unity Labour Party (ULP) candidate for South Windward, Darron Rodan John, used his maiden address on Saturday to promise servant leadership.

“If South Windward is your home, I am your chief servant and my job, my life, will be dedicated to serving you; all of you,” John said at the Biabou Methodist School.

He spoke after the constituency conference endorsed the suggestion by Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves that his name be submitted to the national council for ratification as the candidate.

John was the only candidate offered to delegates, in keeping with the suggestion by Gonsalves, who is political leader of the ULP.

Gonsalves told delegates that he had asked the other hopefuls — Senator Ashelle Morgan, a lawyer; her former senatorial colleague, Rochard “Pitbull” Ballah, a communications officer in the Office of the Prime Minister; and Lois Daisley, a retired educator — to stand down.  

“Every day God allows me, I will work to be a representative you will be proud to call your own,” John said, reading a prepared speech.

“Starting today, your problems are my problems. Your pain is my pain. And, if you let me, I will fight for your dreams and hopes as fiercely as if they were my own.”

He celebrated his candidacy, saying, “We did it, South Windward. No more weeping, no more strife. Join me, now. Let us band together with harmony and with joy and purpose in our hearts to face the rising of a new day.”


John thanked God, the people and families of South Windward and the stalwarts and comrades of labour.

He described his selection as “a new day”, adding, “Let us rise to meet it. We have seeds to plant.”

John began his speech quoting the Bible, saying, “weeping may endure for the night but that joy — joy – comes in the morning.

“My South Windward family, we did it!” he said as he celebrated his selection.

“I say to you today: never would I have made it without God, and without you, the people of South Windward. It was your prayers, your words of encouragement, your hugs at the market, your handshakes on the roadside, your nods of faith in this labour family that lifted me and made this evening possible. Together, we are stronger.”

He said  that “no effort worth anything can come without challenges”, adding that he has had challenges on his journey.

“But there has also been love — so much love,” he siad, adding that he had felt the love in the various villages in the constituency.

“I was chosen because South Windward could tell that I am deeply and truly in love with the people and families of this constituency.

“The people chose me because they understand that public service is more than a stepping stone to something else,” John told the delegates who were not allowed to vote for the candidate of their choice.

“The people understood that being the chief servant of the people of South Windward was a selfless and noble calling in and of itself.

“The people looked at my youth and where others saw risk, the people of South Windward saw energy, innovation, passion and an opportunity to push South Windward forward,” the 35-year-old aspiring politician said.

“Because, you see, South Windward is Labour land — has always been labour land — and will remain labour land well into the future,” he said of the constituency that has been voting Labour since 1994.

“And in the Unity Labour Party, we believe in the art of the possible. Where others say ‘it can’t be done’, I am proud to be a member of a political family that says ‘it can be done if we do it together.’”

The ULP retained South Windward in the 2020 election by 219 votes when Frederick Stephenson was elected to a third consecutive five-year term.

The margin of victory had fallen from 759 in 2015  and 786 in 2010, when Stephenson was first elected.

In 2010, former health minister Burton Williams — who was blamed for the seat winging to labour after he broke ranks with the NDP and ran as an independent candidate in 1994 — failed to make a dent in South Windward.

Noel Dickson, a retired banker, was the NDP’s candidate in 2020 but has been replaced by Andrew John, a trade unionist and retired educator, who the NDP selected as its candidate in March 2024.

On Saturday, the ULP’s newly selected candidate, who hopes to complete a doctorate at a Taiwan university next year, despite his involvement in politics, said that for years, the NDP “looked at St. Vincent and the Grenadines and chose to see a desolate land with weak, uneducated people.

“For generations, the NDP fed us this myth. For decades, they moulded and shaped the national consciousness around this devious lie.

“But Labour came on the scene and looked around at the SVG. And when Labour looked closely at the country and at the people, they did not see desolation; Labour did not see weakness,” John said.


‘Labour saw diamonds in the rough’

He said Gonsalves, former South Windward MP, the late Sir Vincent Beache and the other stalwarts of Labour looked across the country and saw a people who possessed all the tools necessary to bring about their greatness.

“Where the NDP saw desolation, Labour saw the potential for growth and development. Where the NDP saw weakness, Labour saw diamonds in the rough.

“And Labour began polishing the diamonds and clearing the land. An unprecedented menu of social programmes that touch all members of society. The education revolution, historic house and land reforms, a new international airport.

“And now, in 2025, because of this foundational legacy, when Vincentians look out across the country, they don’t see the NDP portrait of desolation and weakness. Instead, they stand at the edge of an endless expanse of fertile land waiting for them to plant their seeds.”

Selected to help people ‘plant the seeds of their hopes and dreams

John said this is why he was selected — “to help the people of South Winward plant the seeds of their hopes and dreams in the fertile soil of our growing Vincentian economy.

“Gather your seeds, South Windward. Gather your dreams and aspirations for the future. We start planting today. Together, our seeds will grow into wealth creation and financial security for South Windward families.

“The seeds we plant today will grow into stronger, more resilient communities and accelerated infrastructural development programs in South Windward.

Together, let us plant seeds that will create the jobs of tomorrow today, seeds that will empower South Windward young people and lift them up on the wave of digital transformation sweeping across the world.

“Let us plant seeds to ensure that our elders can live out their full lives in dignity, with purpose, with wellness and help (when they need it) and independence.

“Let us plant seeds, South Windward — seeds of progress and hope that will take our sporting facilities to the next level and tap deeper into the athletic potential present everywhere across this constituency.

“Let us plant seeds, indeed, that will strengthen, reinforce and modernise the South Windward link in the national agricultural chain

“Let us also plant seeds that will bind us closer to our heritage, to our traditions, our histories and our stories and to all the things that make us who we are.”

John said the race to the candidacy has been challenging and promised to “do whatever I can to mend any wounds that have been opened.

“I will always be first in line for any effort to reach out to any Labour man, woman or child who feels unheard or aggrieved.

“Regardless of whether you supported me or not, whether or not you think I don’t have enough grey hairs, know this: I will be the chief servant of all the people of South Windward,” said John, who wears his head bald.

“Not just some of the people or a few of the people, but all South Windward people; no matter what.”

John holds a master’s degree in information management and a Bachelor of Science in computer science and information engineering, both from National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, where he is also pursuing a doctorate in business administration (information management).