St John candidates set for keen contest

A sea of red shirts took over the Lodge School at Messiah Street, St John on Monday as Barbados Labour Party (BLP) supporters came out to back Charles Griffith on Nomination Day.

Just after 11 a.m., the incumbent Member of Parliament emerged from the school auditorium to a large crowd of supporters chanting “St John Rising”.

In an interview with reporters, Griffith said he was quietly confident of retaining the seat in the January 19 elections.

“I am walking with guided steps. The Father is with me every step of the way and at the end of the day people will determine if they want to stay the course or if they want to change, so I am not going to predict the margins,” he said.

“I am very pleased and humbled to be part of the process today and you can see that the support is there. You can see what is happening in the constituency of St John and this second term, God willing, will help us to continue to step a little further into that.”

Griffith said he is already making plans for a second term in office.

“This is the second phase of a journey that would ensure that St John would continue to rise. My government would have had to deal with several issues in the last three and half years, more than any government on the landscape of Barbados, but we did what we were supposed to do.”

When asked if he was at all worried about the competition from another son of the parish, Democratic Labour Party candidate Andre Worrell, he replied: “The Barbados Labour Party is confident and this is a trickle-down effect. If the Barbados Labour Party as a whole is confident then, believe it or not, Charles Griffith is also confident.

“As far as the canvassing is going, people in St John are seeing what is happening so I am not worried at all about the outcome. Elections are about change or staying the course and people are staying the course because they see what is happening over the landscape of St John. Actions speak louder than words.”

Meanwhile, Worrell, who opted for less fanfare at his nomination process, said he will save the fireworks for the night of January 19 when he is declared the victor.

Addressing reporters after completing the paperwork to officially become the DLP’s candidate for St John, Worrell said he was a much better fit for the parish.

He said: “I am approachable, I am someone who is committed and will get back to people and I have already told them that I am not going to make promises that I cannot keep, which is one of the things that they have often complained about the current representative.”

Worrell challenged the stewardship of the current MP, saying that none of the projects rolled out in the parish were original but were from larger national projects.

“The representative would have spoken to projects which he did not initiate – broader national projects. What I will ask persons is when he comes to you, ask him what is one project that he initiated on his own to benefit the constituency of St John for the last three years and you can’t find one,” he said.

When asked about his strategy to win the seat, Worrell said he will spend the rest of the campaign reenergizing the old Dems.

He said that unlike in 2013, he has the support of the old party supporters.

“Whenever I go canvassing, they always tell me I should have run in the 2018 election and they are going to give me that support now. I am from St John, I was born and raised and all of my achievements have come from St John. They have seen over the years how I have worked with [the now late former prime minister] David Thompson and Mara Thompson and supported the Democratic Labour Party over the years, and they think that this is my time and it is time for the DLP to reclaim St John,” he said. (KB)