Gopeesingh bows out of election race

Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh will not be contesting the upcoming general election for the UNC. He made the announcement during the party’s virtual campaign meeting, On The Ballot, on Thursday evening.

Gopeesingh said he would serve as a strategic adviser and mobiliser during the campaign. He said the move was part of succession planning for the UNC, as young blood was needed to move the party forward.

“As one of the UNC’s longest-serving parliamentarians at this time, I have served in several party and governmental positions since 1995, over the last 25 years. “The time has come now to allow some of our younger, bright, passionate and committed members of the party to also get a chance, to learn the art of policymaking in Parliament and representative politics.

If our party has no succession planning, it would mean that we as the leaders who have built it to this great state nationally over the long difficult decades, would have failed in our duty to ensure that it continues into the future.”

The Caroni East MP told his constituents it had been an honour to serve them for the past 13 years and said he was proud of his track record in the post.

“Some of my achievements include the St Helena Bypass Road connecting St Helena to Piarco airport, construction of the new St Helena Bridge, 36 miles of pipeline, 88 roads paved, five new ECCE centres constructed, rehabilitation lighting and running tracks of eight recreation grounds, attended to over 15,000 citizens for social, medical, educational, health and infrastructural issues, assisted over 1,500 families during flooding in 2018 in St. Helena and Warren, 20 miles of box drains crisscrossing the constituency, 40 watercourses cleared, upgrades to ten pavilions and building of two new ones, distribution of over 10,000 toys – and the list goes on.”

Gopeesingh said he is in no way leaving the people and the UNC.

He said he would be present on the campaign trail to lend support, expertise, experience and skills to the UNC political leader, her team and the candidates of the UNC.