VETERAN politician Joseph “Joe” Edghill has called its quits from active politics and will not be running for a seat in the House of Assembly again.
Edghill, a pharmacist, who represented the Christ Church West Central constituency on a Barbados Labour Party (BLP) ticket for 14 years, said his family had discouraged him from participating any further.
“I would not say that I have retired from politics. I would be involved to some extent, but definitely not in terms of thinking about a constituency. That is out of the way. If I did not do it now (last Sunday), I would not do it in the future,” said Edghill, who represented the constituency from 1994 to 2008.
“I have a big family and they were very concerned about me getting involved in politics again. I run the pharmacy and they were suggesting ‘if you go away and spend time, you could lose business’ because there are customers who would come to me,” said Edghill.
Responding to queries raised after he was not nominated last Sunday, Edghill told Daily Nation he had sent his name forward but eventually gave way to other persons who showed an interest in representing the constituency.
He said he should have made it clear he was not contesting the nomination, avoiding the confusion that he was still on the ticket.
Edghill, however, said his stint as parliamentary representative “was very satisfying”.
“Most of the things that I asked for, I was able to get for the constituency. I always had a good relationship with the people in the constituency and I think as you get a bit older it is time to move on.”
Edghill said he would like to see some houses constructed for low and middle income people, and that was one of “the disappointments” during his tenure .
“I figured that I could have done better in that area and even in terms of an additional sporting facility.”
He said the Christ Church West Central seat was one that the BLP could win and “whoever is coming, I would be able to assist”.
Businesswoman Margot Durant-Callender was nominated last Sunday at Deighton?Griffith School to carry the BLP’s fight against incumbent Stephen Lashley, who is also Minister of Sport in the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Government.
