By Robert Andre Emmanuel
Prime Minister Gaston Browne has called the timing of road rehabilitation efforts being carried out in the Constituency of St Peter “fortuitous”, as the area prepares for a by-election in January.
Following the funeral service for the late MP Asot Michael, the Prime Minister announced that a by-election to fill the vacancy in St Peter will occur on January 14.
The Antigua Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) has already confirmed its candidate as Senator Rawdon Turner, with the opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) yet to name a contender.
Speaking on his weekly radio programme, the Prime Minister claimed that road works recently seen in the area has been ongoing “weeks before” the death of MP Michael and that it was not a case of political posturing to secure an electoral victory in a few weeks’ time.
“We started infrastructure work [in the St Peter constituency] several weeks ago before Asot died, so now that we’re scaling up, no one can argue that we are opportunistically addressing the infrastructure problems within the constituency,” the Prime Minister claimed.
Browne also defended his government’s approach to infrastructure development across other constituencies, saying they must maintain a balance in prioritizing areas.
“You have to wait for the schedule … Not that we’re not taking care of all constituencies. We’ll take care of all,” he stated, adding that “there always has to be a balance.”
The main opposition party, the UPP, frequently calls out the Prime Minister on claims made following the 2023 election season that the constituencies lost by his administration would be placed on the back burner.
The country’s leader did suggest that priorities were being given to constituencies that his administration currently holds, calling it “politics 101”.
Meanwhile, Browne took aim at the UPP’s apparent difficulty in confirming a candidate for the upcoming by-election.
He suggested that the UPP “should sit” out the by-election, claiming that the opposition is unprepared for the contest—in the historical ABLP-friendly constituency—with what he called a “viable” candidate.
“They [the UPP] never really built up anyone. Take, for instance, [Rawdon] Turner. After Turner lost, what did we do? We didn’t discard him. We placed him in the Senate. We invested in him. We started to build his profile because we knew that there had to be some subsequent election,” Browne said.
According to the PM, the ABLP has been investing in Turner’s development since the last general election, ensuring he maintains an active presence in the constituency.
Browne expressed confidence in his party’s candidate, highlighting Turner’s professional background and ongoing community engagement.
“Turner as a replacement is an excellent replacement … he’s an architect, a builder and he has designed some of the most impressive properties on island with one of them ended up in the Architectural Digest,” Browne stated.
