PM tours North Windward

If Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves goes with his buoyant feelings at the moment Vincentians can find themselves going to the polls early.
Last Monday reflecting on the feedback of his Prime Ministerial Tour which he embarked on Friday, May 7, Dr. Gonsalves said he was feeling so satisfied he felt like calling an early election.{{more}}
While this could be passed off as a joke, it is the Prime Minister’s prerogative to decide when an election date is set.
Elections are however constitutionally due in 2006.
On a more serious note, and in an exclusive interview with SEARCHLIGHT during the Prime Ministerial Tour last Friday Dr. Gonsalves said “the people have elected the ULP Government for five years and we intend to serve five years.
“The good Lord has not spoken to me yet as to when the election date should be,” Dr. Gonsalves remarked.
Joined by Cabinet members Dr. Douglas Slater, Clayton Burgin, Girlyn Miguel, Selmon Walters and Julian Francis, Dr. Gonsalves started his “Linking Hands, Hearts And Voices Across The Nation” mission by visiting the North Windward Constituency on Friday where he got the opportunity to hear people’s ideas and community needs directly.
The first stop the Prime Minister made was at the home of Eileen Neptune popularly called Mother Neptune. Dr. Gonsalves assured the family that a new home constructed for them will be ready in another month’s time. Their current dilapidated home will be demolished to make room for the construction of a hard court for residents of Fancy. This project, which will also see the extension of the nearby playing field, will cost EC$90, 000.
The Prime Minister also visited the students at the Fancy Pre-school and Primary School before journeying to Owia and Sandy Bay.
“We are three years in, just over 50 per cent of our term and I could have done it two and a half years but it was more convenient to do it symbolically after the third year and it is a time where we have done enough work, had enough plans for
people to see the hand of the Government,” Dr. Gonsalves told SEARCHLIGHT.
On Saturday and Sunday the Prime Minister visited the North Central Windward and South Central Windward constituencies respectively where he attended a church service and played cricket at North Union.
Persons who came in contact with the Prime Minister made requests for materials for their homes, and called for improved roads, while students asked him for computers for their schools. The Prime Minister took note of all the requests.
Just over forty years ago Dr. Eric Williams, former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, conducted a similar exercise in his homeland.
The tour will recommence on Monday, May 17, with a visit to South Windward for a Town Hall Meeting in Stubbs at 7 p.m.