BLP candidate for St Michael South vows to help constituents

THE Barbados Labour Party (BLP) candidate for St Michael South is promising the people of that constituency to take them out of “darkness” and to show them the light if they elect him to represent them in Parliament.

The candidate, who is hoping to throw Prime Minister Freundel Stuart out of that seat, has promised to address issues affecting the constituency, including poor lighting, no access to a resource centre, roads that are in disrepair, a high unemployment rate, and many young people dropping out of the University of the West Indies because they cannot afford to pay the tuition fees.

Speaking during a BLP rubbing shoulders event in St Michael South yesterday, where a large number of supporters including Opposition Leader Mia Mottley rallied around him, Humphrey lamented that for too long constituents have been afraid to make their way through the community at night, because there is not sufficient lighting.

“I said before that we have to bring proper lighting to this constituency that the residents of this constituency feel safe. So we intend to bring light to the constituency. We also have to fix the roads which are in a terrible state.

“In some cases where they fix the roads, the roads still floods and it has compounded the problem on other roads. It is as if we are not taking the situation facing people serious and we have to address these situations because they cannot continue,” Humphrey said.

The candidate said he was also concerned about the number of houses in disrepair, and about constituents who occupy government houses and are unable to have access to their title deeds.

He stated that perhaps the greatest injustice the Government has done is “taking poor people from being able to go to university in a time when that is the one thing that the country needs.

“The Barbados Labour Party has made the promise that we will make sure that the university remains free for Barbadians. This is an important thing. People have been questioning how are we going to fund it; we have problems of inefficiency in Government.

Call for transparency
“I will not call the Government corrupt, but there are cases where they are spending that cannot be explained. There are some cases where we need more transparency and there are definitely cases where we need more accountability,” he said.

Humphrey raised the point that many residents were disappointed in not being able to live in the Grotto High Rise Project, as they were promised, due to high rental fees.

On that note, he said unemployed constituents were not satisfied that they were also not granted the opportunity to work on constructing that project, as they were promised.

“They got no work when they built the Grotto. I understand that they are talking about getting work when they build the Hyatt, but history has told us that when the Government, through this particular contractor engages in work, the
people in surrounding areas get none of that work.

“We have to make sure that does not happen and that is why we are pressing that issue over and over again,” he said, noting that the country is crying out for leadership.

(AH)
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