ULP wants ‘to make 50 runs off the last ball’ 

An educator and community activist who supported the Unity Labour Party (ULP) in the 2020 general election says that the party has failed the people of North Leeward and should be voted out of office.

Adonis “Ledz” Charles, of Fitz Hughes, who is on pre-retirement leave as a principal, accused the party of trying to make 50 runs off the last ball.

“North Leeward, let me tell you something: for years, we have been marginalised. We have been ostracised for years in North Leeward… and it is because of political spite and wickedness against us here in North Leeward,” he said at a New Democratic Party campaign event in Fitz Hughes. 

North Leeward has been without a service station for about 10 years because the damaged main road made it risky for tankers to travel to Chateaubelair, where the fuel station was located. 

“… when the road in Cumberland overlooking VINLEC was damaged, Sol, the supplier of gasoline in North Leeward, asked [the Ministry of] Transport and Works to fix the road, and they refused. That was why the truck stopped coming to North Leeward.”

Charles said that he had approached Sol to operate the gas station down in Chateaubelair, and the company raised the issue of the road. 

He said the company said they did not have a boat to transport the fuel by sea because of the risk of spillage.

“Sol was willing to bring gasoline to North Leeward as part of their corporate responsibility,” he said, adding that the company did not make much profit from the operation.

“… the truck used to overheat when it reached Belle Isle but they were willing to do it,” Charles said and mentioned the names of people who he said were also willing to operate the petrol station.

“I had already secured almost $200,000 to operate the gas station, including a scuba diving shop to fill up the air tank so that the guys in North Leeward and the fisherman can have their oxygen tanks ready. 

“The people were willing, and the government refused. The government has failed us; they have failed us. If they had fixed the road, that gas station would have been operating, taxi drivers coming from town wouldn’t have to worry whether the tank go on empty or on full.,” Charles said. 

“… the whole party now, like a cricket team batting second, want to make 50 runs off the last ball. They fixing here. They dig a hole in the park. They digging up down there so, digging all over the place like some crazy people,” Charles said.