The Unity Labour Party’s (ULP) candidate for Central Kingstown, Marvin “Mega” Fraser, emphasised his professional qualifications in his first major speech of the campaign for the Nov. 27 general elections.
“…I am somebody that people call when they want their problems fixed,” Fraser said in Kingstown shortly after Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves announced that Nov. 27 is election day.
“And so, I have a mega solution for Central Kingstown’s major problem,” Fraser said.
He was punning on his nickname and the military title of the incumbent, Major St. Clair Leacock, a vice president of the New Democratic Party, who is seeking a fourth consecutive five-year term as MP.
Fraser told party supporters that he “grew up, played, walked, limed” on the Richmond Hill Playing Field, where the rally was held on Tuesday.
He said he also “grew up, walked, limed and played “in all the streets of Kingstown.
“I am a man from the belly of Kingstown. I was born in Sion Hill, I lived in Kingston Park, I lived in Rose Place, I lived in Paul’s Avenue,” Fraser said.
He said he played every Sunday at the wharf Uptown, Kingstown and also played with his friends in Ottley Hall and Edinboro.
“I played football for seasons in and seasons out in Sharpes, and I’ve been up and down with my friends in the community of Green Hill, Dasent Cottage, Largo Height and Montrose, where my father grew up in Montrose,” Fraser said.
“So, when I tell you that standing before you is a real, real Kingstown boy, a real Kingstown boy and a Kingstown boy that ain’t afraid no bwoy.”
He said that when ULP leader, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves came calling for someone to represent Central Kingstown, “he came for somebody who doh afraid no boy.
“I played football many a time on this Richmond Hill field, so nobody can’t tell me about this constituency of Central Kingstown,” Fraser said.
“I am of this constituency. I know the strengths, I know the struggles, I know the dreams, I know the boundless potential of Central Kingstown people.”
‘am somebody who delivers’
Fraser then went on to speak about his professional qualifications and experience as an information technology systems engineer.
“I worked for years for Karib Cable … for five years as an IT systems engineer,” he said, speaking about the former cable television provider that was acquired by another company in 2013.
“I spent over a decade working for the Mustique Company as an IT engineer on the island of Mustique,” Fraser said.
“I spent two years contracted in Canouan, working for Glossy Bay. You see, when you go Canouan and you see them big buildings down at Canouan, the buildings that look like Italian buildings? I designed all of the IT infrastructure for those buildings.”
Fraser, former president of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation (SVGFF), said most people never knew the professional side of him.
“You knew me through football. You knew me as the manager of Avenues United Football Club, the president of Avenues United Football Club, and I spent years as the manager of Avenues United Football Club, and I brought them to the most titles they have won in the history of Avenues United Football Club,” the Central Kingstown candidate said.
He said he made history with Avenues United Football Club, when they were featured on ESPN international news as the only club in history to go four seasons undefeated in the whole football world.
“I have spent years nurturing young players from youth to senior levels, many of whom went on to represent St. Vincent and the Grenadines nationally,” Fraser said.
He said that during his tenure as president of the SVGFF, he brought some of the most exciting times to football in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“I have worked with the now-installed football federation president and his team as a consultant to help them realise a semi-professional league so that young boys and young males, senior males could reach the point where they could see professional football in this country.
“So, my goals and my dreams as a football player are now being realised and materialised through the youths of St. Vincent and the Grenadines,” Fraser said.
“I am somebody who delivers, and the Unity Labour Party is a party that delivers. That is why I am on the Unity Labour Party slate as a candidate — because we are a party that delivers.”
He said that while “the other side talks, the ULP, we walk the walk. We don’t just say things haphazardly and then have to go back and say, ‘Oh, nobody on our side didn’t say that.’
“We walk the walk. We are here for development, and the ULP has developed and delivered for the people of Central Kingstown.”
Fraser said the ULP has built low-income houses in Central Kingstown and continues to provide home help aides for seniors and the ill.
“We have delivered more scholarships and opportunities to children in Central Kingstown than ever, ever in history.”
Fraser said he remembers when young people’s “biggest dream” was to work in a bank because going overseas to study was only for the well-off.
“Well, the ULP, we are delivering opportunities to our young people so that they can build a brighter future and be whatever they want to be.
“The ULP have provided help for homes damaged during Beryl, and while we are here thinking about Jamaica tonight, we remember that just a year ago, we went through our own struggles, and it is the Unity Labour Party that brought us thus far today.”
He said that some people would like to see their homes fixed before others.
“But you have to remember that comrade Ralph Gonsalves, the honourable, most esteemed prime minister, is a prime minister for all and not some.
“You see, people, despite how the other side wants to treat us. Labour is a party of l-o-v-e; we’re a party of love. We’re a party of inclusion, and we love everybody,” Fraser said.