On the Campaign Trail in U.D.P. Pickstock

In our campaign trail series, tonight we feature the Pickstock U.D.P. candidate and sitting area representative, Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington. Elrington’s contender is Dr. Francis Smith, who we will follow on Tuesday. In the division, Elrington showed us one of his proudest achievements, the Samuel Haynes Institute, which was inaugurated in March 2009 and for which he acknowledged Lord Michael Ashcroft as one of the benefactors. News Five’s Delahnie Bain has the story.

Delahnie Bain, Reporting

Groups of campaigners in red and blue shirts are now a constant sight on the streets with elections just weeks away. But when we caught up with incumbent U.D.P. area representative for the Pickstock Division, Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington, he told us that his campaign never stopped.

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington, U.D.P. Standard Bearer, Pickstock Division

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington

“In my case, I never stopped campaigning in this division. Immediately after the election, I kept on my two principal campaigners and they have been working the division for the last four years and I have been in the division along with them for the last four years. I don’t think in terms of getting elected just before the election, I see my vocation really as a continuous one and that you can understand by the fact that I have been running for the election since 1993/94 and never stopped.”

Still, Elrington says he has begun door to door visits in his constituency to ask voters for their support once again.

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington

“I have been visiting everybody on every street to the point where now I am a little hesitant to go out with this host of people because it’s a relatively small division and I can cover it in a short time so that people would get annoyed if they continue to see me too often, in my view. So you will see that in the Pickstock division we’re not going out in these large numbers as in other divisions.”

Delahnie Bain

“So what kind of response have you been getting?”

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington

“Very positive, very, very positive but that is not surprising because we have serviced the division fully.”

Elrington showed us one of his proudest accomplishments in the division, the Samuel Haynes Institute of Excellence. He says it’s a project he has worked on throughout his four years in office and he plans to continue developing it if he is reelected.

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington

“You will notice the fantastic center that we have here and then that is of course supplemented by the food pantry program that we have, by the scholarship programs, the finances that we provide for education, we have instituted very strong health programs. We have doctors coming in periodically into the entire division to visit with them and then we have lectures on nutrition, we have lectures dealing with sewing, culinary arts, pedicure, manicure. We have all kinds of programs going in addition to gardening and the like and the computer classes that the residents of the area participate in as well as from outside the division. If I am reelected, we already have plans to double the size of the Samuel Haynes Institute of Excellence and to strengthen the programs which we have introduced. And then we have already located a site over on the other side, the north side where we want to duplicate this exact institute and we want to put one which we hope to call the Leigh Richardson Institute of Excellence and I want to put that on Victoria Street once we are reelected.”

The area rep is extremely confident in his seat in the Pickstock Division and had this message for the voters.

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington

“I hope that over the last four years, I have faithfully discharged my charge to them; that in fact I did not betray their trust; that in fact I did all that was expected of me and I would like to give them the assurance and undertaking that if reelected, I am going to work even hard for their own benefit, for their development, for their own prosperity and security. It will have to be a miracle for me not to win because we have worked. I don’t know if you were looking at a recent interview with Derek Aikman and he was saying that really and truly it’s not a guessing game; you should know before the election whether or not you’re going to win. And based on the work that we have been doing and the feedback that we have been getting from the people in the division, we feel fairly confident that we are going to be successful once again in this division.”

Delahnie Bain for News Five.