Upp Lewis – By Kisean Joseph
Upp Lewis Blasts Ablp
United Progressive Party candidate in the imminent polls Richard Lewis has dismissed campaign promises from his ABLP opponent, Senator Michael Joseph, and stated that the senator had years of direct responsibility over the constituency — and failed to deliver.
With the April 30th general elections approaching, Lewis said that voters in St John’s Rural West should look past 11th-hour pledges and examine Senator Joseph’s track record. Lewis, who previously served as the area’s Member of Parliament, argued that Joseph’s time as chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Authority and later as junior Minister of Health left the constituency worse off.
“He was chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Authority for quite some time, and he had the opportunity to deliver to the people of St John’s Rural West,” Lewis said. “He had a platform, and with that platform and access to government resources — direct access — he failed and failed miserably.”
Lewis did not stop at waste management. He turned his attention to the state of community health facilities, which he said fell squarely under Senator Joseph’s ministerial watch. According to Lewis, the main health clinic has deteriorated significantly, and he claimed to have personally funded repairs to the building’s leaking roof.
“The clinic is in deplorable condition — the worst it’s ever been,” Lewis said, adding that he had to “step up to the plate and provide supplies to the clinic” despite having no access to government resources.
Lewis further alleged that both the dental clinic and the satellite clinic in Five Islands were closed under Senator Joseph’s tenure as junior Minister of Health, forcing residents to travel to Villa and Glanvilles for basic dental care.
“The Cooks Landfill has been at its worst — the worst period of the landfill’s history — under the ABLP candidate as junior Minister of Health,” Lewis charged, also pointing to unaddressed illegal dump sites and the failure to maintain scheduled bulk waste collection across the constituency.
The St John’s Rural West seat is among those being contested in the April 30th General Election.
