Residents split on Rowe’s return and Walter’s bid

If the sentiments of some longstanding residents of St Michael North West are a reflection of the wider constituency, incumbent Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Member of Parliament Neil Rowe’s chances of retaining his seat could be in doubt.

That was the word emerging when a Barbados TODAY team visited the constituency to test the pulse of the people as they prepare for the January 19 general election.

In Deacon’s Farm, a resident who said she has been living in the area for close to 40 years did not mince her words in predicting the fate of Rowe.

“There will be change in the constituency. Ryan Walters of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) got a better chance of winning over Neil Rowe…because the representation during the last three years wasn’t good,” complained the retired healthcare worker who didn’t want to go on camera.

“It will take a miracle for Rowe to win [again]. His party will get back in, but not him. You have to vote for who is best for the country and not just for personalities. So there will be no change in government, but a change in representation in this constituency,” declared the resident who gave her name only as Sylvia.

Dennis Jordan, another longstanding member of Deacon’s Farm is also writing off the incumbent to win again.

“I don’t feel that this man that down in here from the BLP is going to win this seat because he doesn’t look after the people down in here. The other man, Walters, comes in and makes his appearances,” the 69-year-old retired driver of a courier service company told Barbados TODAY.

“So I don’t see how he going get back in. He does look after the people in Deacon’s Road and Fernihurst. He does hardly look after the people on the opposite side of the road and he doesn’t look after the people down in here [Deacon’s Farm]. I don’t think he stands a chance,” Jordan added.

Further doubts of a Rowe victory were also raised by another constituent who, while forecasting a return to power by the Mia Mottley-led administration, could not predict a return for the incumbent.

“I feel the Bees gine back. They might not get the same amount of seats, right. They will lose some, but she [the Mottley party] will get back in. But for Neil Rowe, it is a little tight there with him. But, but, but…it is a little tight with him though,” declared the woman who did not want to be identified.

She added: “In my opinion, I feel he may get back in, but from hearing the different little talk down here, I don’t know, I don’t know what to tell you. Some people say he do and some people say he ain’t do. But for me, I had good experiences with him. That is de truth.”

Grantley Carrington, a 69-year-old wheelchair-bound retired National Housing Corporation employee who has been a member of the Farm community for over 30 years, is complaining about “broken promises” at a personal level which he attributes to the outgoing BLP representative.

Carrington said since the last election in 2018, he had asked Rowe to remove some rocks from his property which he said have been attracting rodents, but to no avail.

“The election come again and the rocks still there. So they only talk about winning, but they don’t come and help you,” he contended.

Asked if the incumbent was likely to retain his seat, the elderly constituent replied: “That is a ticklish one. He will have to fight very hard. I know he has to fight. He has to fight very hard to get back in because he doesn’t attend to the people good. If he did attend to the people good, he would get back in.”

Another resident of ‘The Farm’, who preferred to remain anonymous, in a terse comment, forecast that “the other man [Ryan Walters]” will win.

However, there were not all anti-Rowe sentiments or predictions of possible failure at the polls for him.

Dwain Sands, a self-employed plumber, also from Deacon’s Farm seems certain of a victory for the BLP and its candidate.

“To be honest, it could only turn out one way, the same BLP way, because the present government isn’t doing too badly as far as I am concerned. There are only a lot of little differences that poor people don’t get the benefits. But to me it will just go back the BLP way,” Sands, a resident of over 40 years said.

“He will be returned,” Sands added with regards Rowe’s chances. “A lot of people complain for him and everything, but I still feel they will put he back in.”

Samuel Marville, who has been living in the area for nearly 60 years and who confesses to being from a household of Rowe supporters, also expects the BLP to regain power with Rowe as MP once more.

“The government gine return man. She [Mottley] gine return. No matter how small the votes gine be, I feel she going to get through,” the 65-year-old self-employed St Michael North West constituent said.

“And Neil Rowe. Neil Rowe is okay man. We belong to Neil Rowe man…he should get back in, yeh. He does try,”Marville stated.

A female resident who was rushing away from home when the Barbados TODAY team approached her, paused long enough to declare “I going with the red party” in reference to a vote for the BLP hopeful.

Two sisters, who only gave their names as Patricia and Margaret echoed each other’s support for the incumbent with one of them suggesting that it would be a disaster if Rowe was not returned as parliamentary representative.

Over in a quiet Straker’s Road, Black Rock, the team found Gavin Walker going about his business in the area.

Walker, a resident of over 20 years and a barber by profession said he is in a quandary as to who to vote for or which party should run the country for the next five years.

“Right now, I can’t pick out who to vote for because none of them is talking my language,” he said.

“I don’t know what Mia Mottley doing. I don’t know what the Democratic Labour Party doing and I don’t know what the coalition party doing. None of them is talking the people line. It is the people that we gotta look out for. We can’t feed we selves. We got to get food from outside and today we cannot trade with a currency backed by gold,” the professional barber contended.

Walker argued that while he did not know for whom to vote, he would back the Alliance Party for Progress as a temporary fix until the republican system of government was sorted out.

Rowe, a first-timer to elective politics, successfully contested the St. Michael North West seat for the BLP in the 2018 general election, unseating the Minister of Finance Christopher Sinckler.