UNITY LABOUR PARTY HOPEFUL Dr Grace Walters (centre at back), with some of her North Windward Garifuna constituents on Nomination Day.
THE UNITY LABOUR PARTY’S (ULP) candidate for North Windward, Dr. Grace Walters has come to her own defense, after information on a consultancy contract with the government was the subject at a meeting of the New Democratic Party last Saturday, November 8, 2025 in the South Central Windward Constituency.
NDP candidate for West Kingstown, Daniel Cummings, told the crowd of supporters at the rally that Dr. Walters had signed a one-year contract in the first instance with the government in the amount of $144,000.
“Now that is not bad you’d say until you hear what she is being paid for,” said Cummings, who has been his party’s spokesman on health. He asked the crowd what in their eyes has Dr. Walters been doing for the last six months “other than campaigning up and down the length and breadth of this country,” and questioned what the hospital administrator knows about anything to do good with health care”.
Speaking at a ULP rally at Biabou on Sunday, November 9, 2025 Dr.Walters fired back, telling the crowd that she applied for a position to advise on reform of the healthcare system here, and also applied for no pay leave from her position as Hospital Administrator to take up the new posting.
She said the reason why the NDP was speaking about her contract is because claims that the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) is in bad shape are unsubstantiated so they had to find something else to go after.
“Some people say certain things about the hospital. So, because the NDP could not come back, they decided on trying something else,” she told the crowd at Biabou.
Dr.Walters, who holds a doctorate in health care administration and management, a master’s degrees in nursing and health care administration, as well a bachelor’s degree in nursing, in response to Cummings said, the hospital is being refurbished, there is an internship programme, and there is a less than one percent infection control rate.
“Remember they were telling you that the louvres were falling out and all of this, you can go down and have a look. I told you about the internship programme that we have. I told you about the advancement of our human resource…so, because they couldn’t get away with that, they came with something else… “I am Grace to you,” she told the crowd, “but to Daniel Cummings, I am Dr. Grace Walters…,” the ULP candidate said, while noting that she has had sleepless nights and sacrificed a lot to obtain her education and now she is being ridiculed for being qualified for a job she applied for and got.
She said the ULP believes that women should empower themselves, and it is not unusual for anyone who works with the government to be given a contract.
“…it’s not uncommon. It’s not unheard of. It’s a regular thing…I applied for and was granted no pay leave, and if the lazy people on the NDP side would do their investigation rather than take something that the colonial people give them to read, they would have gotten this information,” she said.
“They wouldn’t have embarrassed themselves so much. I was granted no pay leave…you know what that means. It means that I applied for leave without a salary in order to obtain an offer that was given to me because I was qualified. I am qualified for that offer,” Dr. Walters stated emphatically.
She added, “I don’t know what the problem is. Is it because I’m a country woman? Is it because I am a woman? Because, you know, they don’t like women.
“Is it because I’m a Carib? Am I only worth $500 Mr. Cummings?” Dr. Walters questioned.
She said that with the scrutiny of her contracts comes a memory where in the days when the NDP was governing, one of their representatives drove from Kingstown to the country side to take her father’s truck off work.
“That’s what you reminded me of Mr. Cummings. You reminded me that at one time they drove from Kingstown to tell a contractor to remove Mr. Cordice from work because he did not support the NDP.
“…you reminded me Mr. Cummings that Mr. Brendan Child was denied a scholarship because he was from Sandy Bay. That’s what you reminded me of last night, Mr. Cummings. You reminded me of the reason that people from the country will forever keep the NDP in opposition.”
She said that her life has been about setting an example for young people and everything that she has in life has been gained by legal means.
“There is nothing illegal in my life. I am from the country, and I the way I carry myself, the life I live, is to be an example to the people, the young people, especially the women in my constituency. I have never and will never do anything to bring disrespect to my constituency.
