Editor: A representative serves a very important function. In these upcoming elections, choosing a person to be your representative is very important.

My choice of a representative is someone who first of all has a love for people and the country. This we can have an idea of, based on his track record of service to the country and communities.{{more}}

It is a known fact that some of the current representatives do not love people and country. That person who desires to represent must be a committed person. We know that some good ministers lost their seats in Parliament simply because they were poor representatives, while they were good ministers. Thus a minister in government has to balance his time and commitment to both areas.

The commitment of a representative is such that he will not find an excuse for not listening and helping his constituents. His commitment will lead him to develop his constituency.

Far too often we hear the excuse that I am not in government, so I can not do anything. This, to me, is unacceptable. A committed representative will know the needs of his people and will make a valiant effort to address the needs. He may have to seek sponsors for programmes. He can personally call places for his constituents to seek employment. He can volunteer in self-help in offering evening classes and other things.

As for those in government, they should not sit back and wait on government to fund projects. They must be willing to personally make the sacrifice to listen to the cries of the people. They must be there for them by being with them. There is so much a representative can do.

Having said that, we know he can not do it all alone; that is why groups in every community are important. In these groups, the needs of the communities should be looked at and efforts made to address them.

Fund-raising can also be done and the proceeds go towards helping its constituents.

More can be said of the person I seek to be my representative. But I would like to just say that he must be honest, trustworthy and respectable. He must be a good role model and someone any person can feel comfortable speaking with. He must be a sociable person and one who seeks at all times to represent his constituents in and outside the house.

Therefore, a good communicator is very important. He must be able to make his constituents proud when he speaks and knows what he is all about. Importantly, he must not be lazy, but be hard-working and knowledgeable of what is taking place in his own constituency.

Let’s hope that we as Vincentians would seek to vote the candidates who we believe will best represent us and let us have a peaceful election. Let us hope that we would have the best 15 persons represent us in Parliament following the next general elections.

Kennard King