‘No Water, No Road, No Vote’: Lovell Says Voters Fed Up With Failing Roads and Quick Fixes

United Progressive Party (UPP) candidate Harold Lovell says residents in All Saints West are expressing deep frustration over failing roads, poor drainage and what he calls wasteful spending on short‑term fixes. The UPP caretaker for All Saints West argues that community roads collapse quickly after rain because repairs are done without a long‑term plan, leaving taxpayers to fund repeated patchwork.

“There are many areas in the constituency where they put down asphalt and as soon as it rains it takes the line of least resistance…it comes through the road and undercuts the the asphalt,” says Lovell. “There’s some roads like…the Buckley Line road that has to be repaired like every two or three months, because the the drainage is not being fixed.”

Lovell also accuses the government of rushing projects before elections and abandoning them after; he warns that this approach to road-building will continue to yield half‑finished projects.

“What we now see is what we saw in Saint Mary South, we saw it in Saint Philip’s North, we saw it in Saint Peter. If an election is coming, they will rush and do things in a hurried way and then as soon as the election is finished, all the equipment is taken out and as they say, “wey it drop, it ‘tap,” he mused.

Lovell – a former government minister and past UPP political leader – aims to represent All Saints West in the upcoming elections, the constituency in which he resides. He advocates for a systematic approach to road construction and emphasizes the need for a long-term road program that will create durable road infrastructure.

According to Lovell, the sentiment in his constituency is one of frustration with the current situation, as some of the country’s worst roads are located there.

Referencing a recent meeting with an upset resident from Jonas Road, he recounted her words: “No water, no road, no vote!”

“She’s so frustrated, she’s really saying that these things must be addressed or else she’s not going to vote,” explained Lovell. “But we had an excellent opportunity to interact, and let me just put it this way; I think she’s going to vote.”