Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) can­di­date for Ch­agua­nas West, Pas­tor Win­ston Ma­habir, is call­ing for ur­gent im­prove­ments to the cre­ma­tion site in Fe­lic­i­ty, say­ing its cur­rent state adds to the dis­tress of griev­ing fam­i­lies.

Dur­ing a walk­a­bout on Mon­day in the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) strong­hold, Ma­habir said the fa­cil­i­ty lacks ba­sic in­fra­struc­ture such as park­ing, seat­ing, and shel­ter, and does not serve the needs of the com­mu­ni­ty.

“Es­pe­cial­ly dur­ing the rainy sea­son, when peo­ple are mourn­ing the loss of loved ones, it’s heart­break­ing to watch the rain pour down on the pyre, with the fire strug­gling to stay lit,” he said. “That’s ad­di­tion­al stress no one should have to en­dure.”

Ma­habir, a Pen­te­costal pas­tor and long-time Ch­agua­nas West res­i­dent, said he plans to for­mal­ly pe­ti­tion the Ch­agua­nas Bor­ough Cor­po­ra­tion (CBC) to ad­dress the site’s short­com­ings. He added that this would not be his first in­ter­ven­tion, re­call­ing his pre­vi­ous out­reach to the In­sect Vec­tor Con­trol Di­vi­sion dur­ing the 2024 dengue out­break to en­sure af­fect­ed com­mu­ni­ties were sprayed.

The PNM can­di­date crit­i­cised the qual­i­ty of gov­er­nance in the area, blam­ing the CBC for what he de­scribed as in­ad­e­quate in­fra­struc­ture main­te­nance and the fail­ure to reg­u­lar­ly clear drains.

“We don’t have prop­er rep­re­sen­ta­tion,” Ma­habir said. “In fact, most peo­ple can’t even say who the MP is or where he lives.”

He said his per­son­al ties to the con­stituen­cy dis­tin­guish him from past can­di­dates.

“Un­like oth­ers who came and went, I live right here. I know what I’m talk­ing about,” he said.

Ma­habir is one of four can­di­dates con­test­ing the seat, which the UNC has held since 2015.