City East MP Melford Nicholas has launched a scathing attack on the opposition United Progressive Party (UPP), questioning the party’s leadership and ability to govern, while ridiculing former political leader Harold Lovell’s defeat at the polls.
Speaking at a weekend rally hosted by the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP), Mr Nicholas told supporters that the UPP remains in disarray, struggling to find a credible figure to lead its ranks after a series of electoral defeats and internal divisions.
“They can’t even pass me in City East, far less lead a nation,” he said, referring to the January 2023 general election in which Mr Lovell was defeated by a margin of six votes. “The man laboured for hours during the recount. His life was flashing before him.”
Mr Nicholas claimed the narrow loss in City East was the final blow to Mr Lovell’s leadership aspirations. “A few days later, he resigned because he couldn’t return to the UPP and demand to stay on as leader,” he said, suggesting the party’s younger members were poised to challenge him.
He pointed to MP Richard Lewis and other so-called “young Turks” in the UPP as figures who were likely to reject Mr Lovell’s continued leadership after his loss at the polls. “You don’t win your seat, where you going with leadership?” Mr Nicholas quipped.
The City East MP also dismissed the UPP’s current leader, Jamale Pringle, as lacking the vision and competence to lead the country.
“Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, and Bartimaeus could look at the United Progressive Party and see that no wise could Jamale Pringle lead a modern country,” he said, in one of the night’s most biting remarks.
Mr Nicholas went on to frame the opposition’s recent attempts to gain political ground as opportunistic and disjointed, arguing that their internal instability makes them unfit to present themselves as an alternative to the ruling ABLP.
“They’re trying to fund the discourse in this country with lies and innuendo,” he said, warning supporters not to be swayed by criticism or public frustration.
The ABLP has faced growing public pressure over water shortages, infrastructure concerns, and economic challenges, but Mr Nicholas insisted that the ruling party remains the only organised and credible political force capable of leading Antigua and Barbuda.
“We must hold on to what we have,” he told the crowd. “The Labour Party has faced challenges, but we are delivering. And when the time comes again, we will face the polls with confidence.”
