I’ve been sentenced to five years hard labour – Straker

Sir Louis Straker has called his re-election in the December 2015 polls a sentence of five hard years of labour — one he accepts gladly.

Straker’s remarks came as he was wrapping up his contribution to the 2016 Budget debate at the House of Assembly last Wednesday.{{more}}

“I was hoping and I am telling you nothing but the truth, that if we had won 12 seats, I would have been able to retire midway, but I have been sentenced to five years of hard labour and I accept it gladly.”

Straker explained that his re-entry into active politics after retiring in 2010 was because the constituents of Central Leeward wanted him back.

“I was elected in 1994, 1998, 2001, and 2005 and then I figure it’s time to give way to somebody else. I stayed out and the people say ‘no you have done so much for us that we want you back’.”

He said he was at church when the Prime Minister, along with the incumbent Maxwell Charles and the challenger Dunstan Johnson, came to convince him to return to politics.

“While I was praying, these three men appeared on the scene and the Lord said to me ‘go with them doubting nothing’.

“I said no, let me carry the Prime Minister around the back…and he told the evangelist ‘I come to get the elder here. The people sent me for him to be their representative’ and the evangelist said ‘Elder go in peace, go serve your country as you have been serving your God’,” Straker continued.

He stated that the visit to the church had caused some uproar among some of the members of his constituency about him having been taken from a church; however, he was still undeterred.

Straker stated, however, that he would rather be pulled out of a church than a ‘brothel or bar’.

He jokingly said that the New Democratic Party (NDP) had been convinced they had Central Leeward won; however, he wasn’t worried, because the people knew him and knew he was a good man.

Straker, however, said he is ready, more than ever, to serve the people of Central Leeward.

“I would do my best to meet their needs with the help of Almighty God, with the help of my colleagues here, with strong support of my wife, who has been with me through thick and thin. I would do my utmost to promote St Vincent and the Grenadines and to give service to the people of Central Leeward.” (CM)