First-time MPs pledge to work with constituents

Newcomers to the political landscape who won seats on a Barbados Labour Party (BLP) ticket in Wednesday’s General Election are ready to serve their constituents.

Corey Lane who received 2089 votes thanked his campaign team members and supporters and family members for helping him to win the City seat.

“I think I have sown a lot and now this is the harvest of it. It has been 23 and a half years of serving the people, doing the people’s business and this is just doing it at the official level now. And to answer your question, no I didn’t expect this level of support, the invitation in the houses, the food, the drink, the hugs, the kisses in COVID, it wasn’t really expected” Lane said during an interview at the Donald Headley counting station at the Bethel Methodist Church on Bay Street where he was declared the winner.

Lane said even though he was tired after a tedious campaign, he is ready to get to work including spearheading housing projects, providing job solutions and investment opportunities.

“There are also a number of constituent concerns and they are noted in my computer’s to-do list and those are the things that I am eager to get down to now that all of this is over,” Lane added.

Meanwhile, elected Member of Parliament for St Phillip West Kay McConney said she was grateful for the opportunity to represent the residents of that constituency. She thanked her team who accompanied her on the campaign trail.

“I thank my daughter and my mom for standing by me all the way. I thank the Prime Minister and the Barbados Labour Party for choosing me to be their candidate. I thank my campaign manager for standing by me all the way. I really want to thank the entire team, this is us, we made this happen and this is really for the people of St Philip West who I look forward to serving for many years to come,” McConney said.

Member of Parliament for St Michael West Christopher Gibbs said he was excited but exhausted following his campaign journey. He said even though he encountered challenges as a first-time candidate running in an election, he was pleased that he and his team did well.

Gibbs said he is fully aware that winning the seat is the beginning of what he has described as the real work to make a difference in the lives of constituents. The newcomer announced that some of his plans for the constituency included making the effort to facilitate services lacking in some areas such as natural gas, better lighting, improved road infrastructure and better access to the internet for underprivileged children.

“We don’t know how long online school will persist so that is one of the projects that we would like to continue with because it was actually implemented before. Obviously, jobs will be a big one and that is one that we will really have to work hard on. But we have some plans including job fares, commercial zones, mentorship programmes, all of these types of programmes we intend to implement,” Gibbs said.
anestahenry@barbadsotoday.bb