Sean Bird denies Browne’s claims about him jumping ship; says they are ‘mind games’ designed to create confusion in UPP

Sean Bird, the United Progressive Party (UPP) Candidate for St John’s Rural East, is vehemently denying allegations made by Prime Minister Gaston Browne that he is planning to leave the opposition party.
 
Browne made the claim on Saturday, October 22, on his affiliated radio station.
 
However, Bird – who is challenging the Prime Minister’s wife in that constituency – says he, personally, is in no way a “mad man,” and he describes Browne’s accusations as mind games.
 

Having laid the groundwork in Rural East over the past two years, and having gotten to this stage, the UPP Candidate says it would be absurd of him to leave it behind and disappoint his hard-working team members.
 
According to Bird, if he were to even consider something of this nature, he would need to have his head examined.
 
Bird says the Prime Minister’s ramblings prove that the UPP is ahead. Accordingly, he adds, the ALP is pulling out all the stops in an effort to create confusion and cause the Party to lose focus.
Therefore, he says the UPP should not allow these comments to take it off its course to victory.
 
The UPP Candidate says there has not been a single issue with which he has not dealt – because, if one is in a race and is ahead, then it is clear that one has to safeguard his seat. This should be the focus of all his colleagues, Bird states.
 
Once a Candidate understands the environment and the mindset of people who are clamoring for change, Bird continues, there is no need to answer every untruth uttered by the ALP leadership and its supporters.
 
This would show insecurity, Bird believes, and the UPP, at this moment, is on the right course and is the right choice to govern Antigua and Barbuda.
 
Browne has alleged that four members of the UPP are set to “jump ship,” but identified only Bird and Sherfield Bowen, the Candidate for St. Phillip’s South.

Some persons say the Prime Minister called these two names because he saw them as “the lowest-hanging fruits,” given that they were former members of Antigua Labour Party.