When the VIP succeeded in ousting the Walwyn-led National Democratic Party (NDP) at the 2019 elections, the VIP’s then-Chairman, Andrew Fahie, was the only candidate on the VIP’s electoral slate with any experience as a lawmaker. Fahie, who has since been arrested and charged with drug smuggling, racketeering and money laundering in the United States, is now expected to face trial in July.

But while speaking at a political rally in the Sixth District last evening, April 18, Walwyn suggested that even with his decades of legislative experience, it was Fahie who led the VIP in the wrong direction.

“The last occasion, you had a team that only had one person with any kind of governmental experience, and the one person led astray everybody else. And so we ended up in the problems that we are in now, we cannot afford for that to happen again,“ he urged.

Walwyn argued that it was important to look into the background of persons being elected into government and suggested that his fellow NDP candidates, now being led by Eighth District Representative, Marlon Penn, had much experience in their various fields.

The former lawmaker contended that the territory is on a proverbial precipice and had various constitutional and economic issues to confront, among other things, so electors need to put a government in office that can hit the ground running.

According to Walwyn, the claims of apathy from voters is a clear reflection of the lack of confidence in the territory’s leadership.

“We have got to take that warning seriously and those of us who are lucky enough to get elected, must take that responsibility seriously and restore the hope and confidence of our people,” he stated.