Sir Kennedy Remembers Uhral Swanston
Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 13, 2023 (ZIZ Newsroom): National Hero and Former Prime Minister Sir Kennedy Simmonds is remembering the late NRP politician Uhral Swanston as a man of the people.
In an interview with ZIZ Sir Kennedy said Mr. Swanston was described as a “people’s man” and as such reflected the will and needs of the people.
“He, in his normal every day of life, in his normal, everyday demeanor reflected the feeling, the emotion, the understanding of the people who we served. He was a man given to service,” he said.
Sir Kennedy described Mr. Swanston as a genuine and down-to-earth person which was reflected in his manner of speech.
“When Uhral Swanson spoke either just normally, or especially in Parliament, people stopped to hear him. I always liked to hear Swanson. He was not a man given to flowery or erudite language. He’s, he talk about things, says he saw them. Where you see is what you get. That was how Uhral Swanston was,” he said.
Sir Kennedy said he particularly remembered that Mr. Swanston was very passionate about the basic needs of Nevisians.
“The things he was concerned about: he talked about the roads and how awful they were. The next thing I think, you know, was water. Swanson, in his early days was in an environment in which people had to walk. Some people had to walk two miles to get a bucket of water. I don’t think it’s easy for people to nowadays to quite understand,” he said.
Mr. Swanston, a founding member of the Nevis Reformation Party served in government from 1984 to 1995.
In 1980, he became a member of the PAM/NRP Coalition government led by Sir Kennedy Simmonds.
He was awarded the Companion of the Star of Merit on National Heroes Day September 16, 2021.
He passed away at the age of 86 on the 8th of March in New York City.
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