{"id":165827,"date":"2022-12-21T09:02:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-21T13:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=165827"},"modified":"2022-12-21T09:31:18","modified_gmt":"2022-12-21T13:31:18","slug":"statement-to-the-electorate-of-antigua-and-barbuda-following-the-naming-of-the-date-for-general-elections-2023-harold-lovell-upp-political-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/statement-to-the-electorate-of-antigua-and-barbuda-following-the-naming-of-the-date-for-general-elections-2023-harold-lovell-upp-political-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement to the Electorate of Antigua and Barbuda following the naming of the date for General Elections 2023 Harold Lovell, UPP Political Leader"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>

My Fellow Nationals, Citizens and Residents, the date of the General Election of 2023 has been named and the time \u2013 the time of redemption \u2013 is at hand.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

My colleagues and I \u2013 fondly known to you as The Redeem Team \u2013 are grateful that God has been our helper\u00a0 and brought us, successfully, to this day.\u00a0 We are also grateful for the support given to us by our Party, its Leadership and Executive, its Branches, and by the electorate who welcomed us and shared their longing for a change.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>
\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

 <\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Well, the opportunity to make that change is here.\u00a0 The appointed time is now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

The Antigua Labour Party has rushed into an eleventh-hour campaign that is distinguished \u2013 not by tangible accomplishments of the past eight years, nor by credible plans and policies for the next five \u2013 but by money\u00a0 and excess that fly in the face of the people\u2019s increasing deprivation, disappointment and disillusion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

With absolutely no shame \u2013 and with no apology \u2013 Prime Minister Gaston Browne is expecting you, the voter, to completely forget \u2013 or, at least, put aside \u2013 his failure over nearly nine years to deliver on his campaign promises.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

From his early directive to you and your children to \u201ccut cassie and bun coal; raise pigs, raise chickens,\u201d he was telling you not to look to him to make your lives better.\u00a0 And he did not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At the same time, he was exhorting and encouraging his Cabinet colleagues to use their positions and their contacts as avenues to \u201ccreatively enrich\u201d themselves.\u00a0 And they did \u2026 as did he.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From the 2014 promise of \u201c500 homes in 500 days,\u201d and his call to construction industry workers to \u201csharpen your tools\u201d and for 50 local contractors to step up to the plate to his most recent promise to settle the backpay owed to civil servants \u201cby the end of the year,\u201d Gaston Browne lied to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He promised you more than 30 major projects that would bring thousands of jobs and billions in investments, and what he delivered was nearly 100 loans \u2013 some still clouded in mystery.\u00a0 The question remains, how can a government be broke after such excessive borrowing and collecting more than $11 billion in taxes?\u00a0\u00a0 Gaston Browne has failed you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He has failed to improve our standard of living and sat on his hands as \u2013 deliberately, he watched our savings evaporate; our small businesses go under; as the former workers of Jolly Beach and LIAT slipped into anxiety and then desperation; as the still-too-high price of fuel at the pumps and the brutal hike in food prices pushes the middle-class into poverty and the poor into destitution\u2026 .\u00a0 Gaston Browne has been the audience to the tragedy of our lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In every sector, Gaston Browne has presided over the failure of his Ministers:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Health<\/strong>, he boasts about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic \u2013 where he forced vaccines upon the reluctant and the fearful by issuing ultimatums about the jab or the job; and the jab or children\u2019s education.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Where, like the tyrant whom he emulates, he served up teargas and rubber bullets to those who peacefully asserted their right to their own bodies, on bystanders, and even upon those who sat in their own homes on a Sunday night last August\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Where he spent untold sums on programs that simply did not work, like the monitoring bracelets, and on a satellite hospital that, up to now, millions of dollars later, sits as cold and empty as the heart of his Minister of Health.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Big boasts.\u00a0 But no pandemic allowance for the healthcare workers on the frontline \u2013 some of whom sacrificed their own health and lives.\u00a0 No pillows or sheets at the hospital; not enough supplies at the clinics; an underfunded CBH and an over-extended CBH, resulting in overgrown communities and roadways and stinking gutters in St. John\u2019s City.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A filled-to-capacity public cemetery and the almost wholesale dispatch of burials to the countryside burial grounds.\u00a0 And, as Shakespeare put it \u2013 the \u201cmost unkindest cut of all:\u201d the indignity visited upon the dead who were allowed to rot in a storage container outside Holberton Hospital.\u00a0 Not even in death were they safe from Gaston Browne\u2019s and Sir Molwyn\u2019s failure. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Education, much the same. Children cheated out of an education because then Minister of Education Michael Browne<\/strong> could not see further than the word \u201cfortune\u201d in Fortuna Pix.\u00a0 And so, during the pandemic, when students most needed the multi-million-dollar E-books to access their virtual classrooms, the Ministry of Education was already planning the funeral for their burial at the Cooks Landfill\u2026 .\u00a0 And Gaston Browne was satisfied to preside over this failure of your children.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Public Works<\/strong>, the nightmare continues.\u00a0 Which administration before this one ever got US$20 million in grant money for roadworks from the British or anyone else?\u00a0 And yet, portions of Friars Hill Road and Sir George Walter Highway \u2013 newly resurfaced \u2013 have fallen into potholes already.\u00a0 The Valley Road is incomplete. The Sir Sidney Walling Highway, going east, has been dug up again.\u00a0 The roadway at Crabbe Hill and at Cades Bay remains caved-in \u2026 as Southsiders cry, \u201cHow long, Lennox<\/strong>; how long?\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Anchorage Road and the detour through Yorks; the incomplete bridge-work in Upper Fort Road; virtually all the community roads \u2013 from Crosbies to Follies \u2013 Gaston Browne has failed, failed, failed all of us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What can I tell you about our utility services that you don\u2019t already know; that you have not already felt; that you might be going through even as I speak, as electricity outages and low voltage play havoc with our appliances?\u00a0 And even as we suffer through the inconvenience and the expense, the Gaston Browne Administration has taken up acres and acres of our land with non-functional solar farms with not a single battery in operation.\u00a0 All heat but no light from that failure Gaston Browne!<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop in your pipes \u2013 sometimes for weeks at a time!\u00a0 Reverse Osmosis on top of Reverse Osmosis Plant, and yet, the situation gets no better.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Who is profiting from your loss, My Fellow Citizens and Residents?\u00a0 Who?\u00a0 In fourteen days from June 2014, Gaston Browne promised you an improvement in the water situation.\u00a0 He casts blame on the hardworking staff of APUA, but it is he and the \u201cGranny- can\u2019t-bathe\u201d Utilities Minister who have failed to deliver!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Never has an Administration seen as many protests and as much dissatisfaction from public-sector<\/strong> workers.\u00a0 Never! And, now, when this administration is down to crunch time; when the election gong is sounding; when civil servants have already made their plans for a good Christmas, Gaston Browne is scrambling to come up with their backpay \u2013 outstanding since 2018-19 \u2013 after<\/u><\/em> the<\/em> single weekend<\/em> of reduced ABST<\/em>.\u00a0 Shame, Gaston Browne, shame!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Social Security <\/strong>payments \u2013 for pensioners and other beneficiaries \u2013 a crying shame.\u00a0 And literally so!\u00a0 Because this administration has had our elders weeping at the indignity of being without and doing without, or of begging a hand-out here and there or suffering in silence.\u00a0 They do not<\/em> deserve that!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nor do the workers who, dutifully, pay in their contributions every month.\u00a0 And yet they are forced to wait five, six, seven months for their benefits.\u00a0 Babies already christened and looking to go to pre-school, and yet their mothers are still waiting for their maternity payments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While you are lighting lamp to look for your benefits, Gaston Browne has failed to make regular payments on the bond. In fact the one truth that Lionel Hurst ever did tell was when he confessed that successive Labour Party governments took millions out of Social Security and did not put the money back \u2026that deliberate act of criminal neglect is unforgivable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And he took advantage of Medical Benefits, too.\u00a0 As soon as the ALP came to office, it raided the reserves of the MBS \u2013 your money; private-sector employers\u2019 contributions; funds held in trust!\u00a0 And when the Hon. Jamale Pringle asked about it, what did Gaston Browne say: \u201cOh, that was a grant. We don\u2019t have to pay it back\u2026 .\u201d\u00a0 That is how this failure, Gaston Browne, writes off the debt he owes you.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now, this past weekend, after all the showboating and grandstanding regarding the reopening of Jolly Beach Resort, what happened?\u00a0 Staff have gone home again, while guests have had to be carted off to other properties \u2013 running from mosquitoes and complaining of no water or electricity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, down at the St. John\u2019s Harbour, we are yet to see one OASIS-class ship dock here \u2013 after eight years of dredging at only-the-good-Lord-knows what<\/em> cost, since NAMCO appears to be a secret society, taking our money but giving no account for it.\u00a0 And, while they want us to believe that the tourism<\/strong> cup is spilling over, the taxi drivers and Vendors Mall operators are telling a different story, because their saucer remains dry no matter how many ships are in Global Ports\u2019 port.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now, later this week, we are expecting more so-called tourists from West Africa; \u201ctourists,\u201d they say \u2013 but, in fact, job-seekers who are lining up for work alongside Antiguans, Barbudans, and Caribbean Brothers and Sisters.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another fail from Gaston Browne and Max Fernandez<\/strong> \u2013 except, of course, for his success in offloading his cinema onto the backs of tax-payers.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

With all these shortcomings and more \u2013 including in Agriculture<\/strong>, where he has no compunction or conscience about competing with the small farmer; in Lands<\/strong>, where, both in Antigua and Barbuda, Maria Browne<\/strong> has huffed, taken up, flipped, and given away our patrimony; and in social services<\/strong>, where we have not seen one <\/em>new program \u2013 not even in these punishing times \u2013 and not one existing UPP program has been expanded in the ALP powerhouse.\u00a0 Next-level Fail is what you call Gaston Browne and Dean Jonas!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now, I am aware that there are certain sectors or Ministries I have not mentioned; but the public is still not sure what work<\/em> those Ministers actually do<\/em> \u2013 and neither are we.\u00a0 So we will just leave them where they are for now\u2026 .<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

And, so, we come to the present.\u00a0 A present where Gaston Browne and the Labour Party want to come bearing gifts; slipping you money; splashing out on expensive concert after expensive concert; wining and dining you; and promising you swimming pools in cemeteries — expecting that their ill-gotten gains will buy them another election\u2026 .<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But Brothers and Sisters, just like the Odebrecht Scandal was the \u201cMother of All Scandals,\u201d so is this <\/em>election the \u201cMother of All Elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just like 2004 was \u201cThe Year of Change,\u201d this election must usher in the year and decade<\/strong> of GREATEST CHANGE!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change! <\/em>\u00a0in our economic fortunes \u2013 with relief, recovery and shared prosperity \u2013 for ALL and not just the favoured few slobbering at Gaston Browne\u2019s trough.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change!<\/em> for frustrated, stagnated, and underpaid nurses, teachers, police officers, and other public-sector workers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change! for minimum-wage earners, crushed by Cutie Benjamin\u2019s<\/strong> $.80 cents an hour increase, to a living wage that allows them to see their way and care for their families.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change!<\/em> for Social Security pensioners and for struggling single mothers and for financially embarrassed fathers through the MOM Program.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change!<\/em> for the hungry and maltreated prisoners, who are still our brothers and sisters \u2013 half of whom could be outside, with alternative sentencing, like community service.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change!<\/em> for youth and young entrepreneurs; for sportsmen and women; for job-seekers with and without degrees.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change!<\/em> In fact, a REVOLUTION in education that will see all children given the chance to capitalize on their gifts, whether in academics, trades, sports, fine arts or the entertainment field.\u00a0 All must be given the chance to endeavour AND achieve, Darryl Matthew<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change!<\/em> for the farmers, disenchanted and dispossessed by Samantha Marshall<\/strong>, and for those waiting for an opportunity in a new fashion industry based on sea-island cotton.\u00a0\u00a0 New agri-business ventures to add value to our mangoes, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Change !\u00a0 <\/em>for a meaningful and responsible medical marijuana industry, not just for a\u00a0 priveliged few to make money but for those who over the years have suffered the pain and the persecution to benefit from the economic opportunities and spin offs created by the cannabis industry.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Change!<\/em> for first-time home-owners, including the disadvantaged residents of Booby Alley, and all the National Housing workers who deserve to be paid what they are worth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change!<\/em> in relations with our Barbudan sisters and brothers, whose right to a say in their island\u2019s development we respect and will guarantee.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change!<\/em> that will see the inclusion of the Antigua and Barbuda Diaspora in decisions about their homeland and prime opportunities for investment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change!<\/em> from the exploitation that characterizes the Labour Party\u2019s practices toward our Caribbean brothers and sisters, particularly the Spanish community.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change that will see a United Progressive Party Administration and the Redeem Team transforming Antigua and Barbuda \u2013 from Old Road to Hodges Bay, from Freetown to Five Islands \u2013 community by community \u2013 steadily, with vision and planning and executio<\/em>n of policies, pns and projects that bear out our touchstone: \u201cPeople First\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We have spent the last two years and four months presenting ourselves, Candidate by Candidate, to you, the electorate.\u00a0 We have put before you solutions to problems this country faces.\u00a0 We have shared with you the ways in which we would ease the squeeze on all residents \u2013 especially the poor and small businesses \u2013 through the reduction or elimination of certain duties and taxes, through incentives, and by rooting out corruption and graft in government income and spending.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You know us, and, by now, we know most of you.\u00a0 And what you have said to us, across this Nation, is: \u201cWe need a change.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well, Brothers and Sisters, we listened; we heard.\u00a0 And it is time\u2026the time is here<\/em>\u2026the time is now<\/em>: Time for a change.\u00a0 And that change is yours<\/em> to usher in \u2013 to sweep in like a mighty wave, a mighty Blue Wave \u2013 on Election Day, by voting the Right Choice \u2013 the ONLY Choice \u2013 the United Progressive Party.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, go out and get your Voter\u2019s ID Card if you haven\u2019t collected it.\u00a0 Those who have it, secure it.\u00a0 And go out and vote on Election Day. Put your X next to the Sun!\u00a0 Vote like your life and your children\u2019s lives depend on it\u2026because they do!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Until I come again, there will be NO RETREAT and NO SURRENDER!\u00a0 See you on the campaign trail!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My Fellow Nationals, Citizens and Residents, the date of the General Election of 2023 has been named and the time \u2013 the time of redemption \u2013 is at hand.   My colleagues and I \u2013 fondly known to you as The Redeem Team \u2013 are grateful that God has been our helper\u00a0 and brought us, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":164281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nStatement to the Electorate of Antigua and Barbuda following the naming of the date for General Elections 2023 Harold Lovell, UPP Political Leader - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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