Sauteurs residents continue to support Gilbert

IN an ongoing show of support for their parliamentary representative, about 200 residents of Sauteurs attended the latest in a series of on-the-bloc pocket meetings organised by MP Joseph Gilbert.

The meetings are taking place against the backdrop of what is regarded as the unofficial start of campaigning for Grenada’s next general election. Gilbert won the St. Patrick West seat in the 2008 election on an NDC ticket.

But he told the October 31 on-the-block meeting that the National Democratic Congress
had lost its mandate to govern the country.

“Of the ten MPs who were elected along with Tillman Thomas to form the government, only half that number remains,” Gilbert said.

“The government that you elected is not the government now holding office. They have squandered the mandate to govern and must return to polls, now!” he added to applause from the crowd that gathered in the vicinity of the Sauteurs Fish Market.

Gilbert discussed several projects that he said he initiated as MP on behalf of the constituents
of St. Patrick.

Among the long list of projects is the multi-million-dollar St. Patrick Road Network Upgrade which, according to Gilbert, is expected to start next year with funding from the Caribbean Development Bank.

“This project would bring much-needed construction jobs to the parish, brothers and sisters. The roadway and bridges from Prospect in the west to Pointes Field in east would undergo major improvement under this project,” Gilbert noted.

He complained that the Thomas administration was “playing politics” with one of the signature projects for the parish, and called for affirmative action to be taken to get the project off the ground.

“I am calling on the PM to stop playing politics with the Snell Hall playing field and human resource development centre project,” Gilbert stressed.

“The required lands have been acquired by the state since August; the contract has been awarded; the funding is awaiting drawdown in a local bank. The PM must, therefore, stop playing politics with the people’s project and get the work started without further delay.”

The next planned pocket meeting will take in the village of Mt. Alexander on Saturday, November 10, from 6 p.m.

At the meeting, he is expected to re-confirm his candidacy for St. Patrick West in the upcoming general election.