BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FORMER Government insider turned insurance broker G. A. Dwyer Astaphan has endorsed Team Unity’s Jonel Powell to contest the Election against the Hon. Marcella Liburd, the Labour Party Candidate whom he had endorsed and campaigned for in the 2010 Elections.
Astaphan appeared on the Unity political platform last evening (Feb. 9) at Market Street, where he made a pitch for the constituents of Number Two to throw their support behind the People’s Action Movement candidate because, as he puts it, a vote for Liburd is a vote for the ills that have been perpetrated against the people of the country.
Astaphan told the sizeable crowd that that Constituency was ably represented by former Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis the Rt. Hon. Sir Kennedy Alphonse Simmonds, then himself and Powell is expected to continue in that vein.
According to Astaphan’s point of view, the Hon. Liburd must take the blame for “all the wrong that he (Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas) has done to the people of Central Basseterre and the people of the country…”
He listed some of these as the high national debt, disrespect shown to the people of the country, the land for debt swap, the Basseterre High School situation, lack of rights of workers and the removal of the privilege of visa-free access to Canada.
“All of those things she responsible for…Don’t tell me nothing ’bout Labour and you loyal to Labour because the Leaders of the Douglas Party are not loyal to Labour. Why should you be loyal to them? The only chance you have it to vote for Unity.
“…Marcella Liburd has not served this Constituency well. She has not done it and she does not deserve your support for the next five years. None of them do, and this is why I could stand proudly tonight. I’m a happy man…my soul is light and joyful…”
In sanctioning Powell’s candidacy, Astaphan expressed: “I endorse Jonel. Jonel is part of Unity. Unity is what the country needs now.
“The old kind of politics is no good for us. It is a poison. It is a poison, and if anybody who has a conscience in this country or if anybody who says they have a conscience in this country, vote for candidates who told people to go back to the school, nothing wrong wid it, or vote for people who allow raw sewage, ‘toto’ water to go in the floor of the surgical ward in de hospital, anybody who say dey have a conscience vote for them deserve wah dey get.”
