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DEAR EDITOR:
We all heard Gaston Browne say after the last election that he does not run losers. But in what appears to be an about face, he is pushing an abject loser for the by-election in St. Mary’s South. Truth be told, while the Prime Minister called out many of the losing ABLP candidates for being lazy and not fighting hard enough, some of them lost by smaller margins than Marshall. But somehow, Marshall has been elevated despite her loss and has been appointed as the Leader of Government Business in the Senate. CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP FOR NEWS UPDATES.
Senator Samantha Marshall seems to have the ABLP’s full support in the incoming by-election, while former Ministers like Michael Browne, Lennox Weston, Dean Jonas have been “kicked to the curb.” Now wha cudda really cause dis now?
A Sore Loser
But Samantha Marshall is no ordinary loser, she is a sore loser. Once she lost, she never looked back at the community to thank the people who voted for her. But in recent weeks, she has returned to begin to do some road work and to increase her visibility, after being absent for several months. Her constituency office is seldom open, and she has literally turned her back on the people. So, she is not just a loser by name but also by nature.
No doubt, Marshall’s absence was as a result of the sound beating that she got at the polls, from a candidate who campaigned against her for a mere five months. Even with government resources and money at her disposal, the people of St. Mary’s South sent Samantha a clear message that her services were no longer needed.
Samantha is a Bigger Loser Than Winner
It is interesting that Samantha’s loss to Shugy (199 votes) is twice as large as her win against Hilson “Brother B” Baptiste ( 81 votes) in the 2014 election. It was more than six times the win that she got against Cortwright Marshall (31 votes) in 2018. So Samantha was never a strong winner to begin with and her popularity has been in decline since 2018. In August 2022, Gaston Browne announced that Cortwright Marshall was leading Samantha Marshall in the polls. So even Gaston knew well in advance of the elections that Samantha was losing. Of course, this reverse psychology is evidence that Gaston knew that she was losing and this narrative was put out there, amid rumors that Kelvin Simon would be the UPP Candidate. In short, Samantha’s favorability has been on a downward trend.
A Poor Track Record as a Minister
Samantha also demonstrated a losing track record as a Minister, and this more than likely contributed to her declining popularity and eventual defeat. Marshall was appointed Minister of Social Transformation in 2014 and accomplished very little. Her record can be described as lackluster at best, during the first term of the Gaston Browne administration. She was appointed Minister of Agriculture in January 2020, after Prime Minister Gaston Browne fired Dean Jonas. She was an abject failure in that role as well. One might have thought that as an MP representing one of Antigua’s largest agricultural belts, that the farmers in St. Mary’s South
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would have received support. But under her tenure, Cades Bay and the farming of our Antigua Black Pineapple were neglected. What was supposed to be a farm became a paddock.
Her photo ops at home and abroad were many, but Samantha Marshall was just full of chat and the people saw right through her. In May 2020, Marshall announced that she was pushing for the full registration of farmers so that greater support could be extended to them. That too, turned out to be a joke. Where is that project today some three years later? A lot of talk about improving food security, but very little was done, even among the farmers in her own constituency who just needed some support.
Poor Performance as a Parliamentary Representative
Look at the condition of the roads in St. Mary’s South. Who can forget the major cracks in the road around Darkwood Beach leading into Johnson’s Point that were exposed in a video that went viral. Two young men sat at the side of the road helping to direct one-way traffic. Once the story broke, instead of helping them find a job, Samantha gave them a little cash and a plaque. Of course, a few weeks before the elections, some concrete was hastily poured to cover these major cracks in the road. Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that drivers and pedestrians remain safe.
How can we forget the clinic in Bolans? It was declared “complete” in December 2022, handed over with much fanfare in March 2023 and was to be opened in two weeks. Almost three months later, the facility is still non-functional. So what were Samantha’s real accomplishments in St. Mary’s South that would warrant re-electing her in the by-election?
A B-Line and Not a U-Turn
So why is Gaston Browne contradicting himself by trying to recycle one of his biggest losers? What will cause voters who rejected Samantha in January, to vote for her again in the next 120 days? Not much has changed, so why would we change course to select a non-performer? But we know new roads are coming. Water might finally be coming. Clinic and good health care are coming. Support for farmers and fisher folk is coming. Jobs for young people are coming. Milk and honey are definitely coming too. And we see that work has begun on the long awaited recreational facility at Urlings and our children deserve this. The people in St. Mary’s South are happy that Samantha Marshall will finally do some work in the constituency. But she is still a loser and will remain a loser in the minds of voters. We are not turning back.
The people of St. Mary’s South have vision. We are independent minded, proud, and resilient. We are choosers and we do not accept losers. We will make a bee line to re-elect Kelvin “Shugy” Simon overwhelmingly during the by-elections. We will not be flung and caught, neither will we be bought or sold!
Sincerely, Sunbeam
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