Cynthia Forde, Member of Parliament for St Thomas, Clarifies Retirement Rumors Amid Political Speculation
August 27, 2024
St Thomas MP Cynthia Forde clarifies retirement rumors, stating she will not run after 2022. Denounces false social media post and urges focus on community service. Elected since 2001.
Member of Parliament for St Thomas Cynthia Forde is not quite ready to walk away from the political scene.
When she does, people will hear it from her.
That was her response to a query from a Nation team recently about a social media post which indicated she had announced her retirement and the St Thomas branch of the Barbados Labour Party needed a replacement.
“I don’t know where that bogus thing came from,” Forde said. “People are just lawless.
“Everybody knows I said I am not going to run after 2022, but 2022 just gone and the five-year term ain’t gone. So I don’t understand who the person is that is doing it . . .. It is news to me.”
Forde, a former Minister of People Empowerment Elder Affairs, said she held a branch meeting two Sundays ago at which local matters were discussed, including issues affecting the elderly.
She advised the person writing the “nonsense” to find more productive ways to spend their time, like volunteering to work with children or helping the boys on the block. The veteran parliamentarian was elected in the 2001 by-election when then Attorney General David Simmons announced his retirement from Parliament. Since then, she has been successful in all of the General Elections from 2003 to 2022.
