Forgotten Communities, Forgotten People: A Wake-Up Call from Roblot, Choiseul

As a concerned citizen of Roblot, Choiseul, I cannot sit in silence any longer.

With general elections looming—constitutionally due in 2026 but rumored to be called earlier—it's time to reflect, reassess, and rise. For too long, we the people of La Maze, Debreuil, Roblot, and Riviere Dorée have been fed crumbs under the guise of development. We've been pacified with footpaths, drains, and temporary grass-cutting jobs, while our communities cry out for real transformation—education, empowerment, and opportunity.

Just take a look around.

In Roblot, our community center remains locked, untouched and underutilized. Built with taxpayer dollars, it sits there as a silent monument to broken promises—walled off from the very people it was intended to serve. What kind of leadership allows such a resource to lie idle in the face of growing unemployment, especially among our youth?

This isn’t just a Roblot issue. La Maze, Debreuil, and Riviere Dorée have suffered the same fate: neglected, under-resourced, and spoken about only when it’s time for votes. The cries of our young people are deafening. They are not lazy—they are idle because no one has given them the tools or opportunities to rise.

Instead of youth development programs, instead of skills training centers, what did we get?

A bar.

Yes, a bar—soon to be built on what was once prime government land near Choiseul Secondary School. Land that could have been transformed into a vocational training center, a small business incubator, a community IT hub—anything that contributes to the development of human capital. But that would’ve required foresight. That would’ve required politicians to put people over personal gain.

The problem isn’t a lack of resources. The problem is a lack of vision.

And now, as another election cycle creeps upon us, the same tired tactics will return. We’ll be told once again to vote for roads, for handouts, for favors. But we are not fools. We are not beggars. We are citizens with a right to thrive, not just survive.

It’s time we demand better.

What are these politicians offering for the advancement of the people—not just their party base, but the entire community? Where are the proposals for literacy and computer classes? Where are the workshops on entrepreneurship, agriculture, hospitality, and trades? Where are the plans for our youth, our single parents, our unemployed men and women?

If they have no plan for our development, then they are not worthy of our votes.

We must be vigilant. We must be bold. We must ask the tough questions and demand real answers—not flashy slogans or last-minute giveaways. The campaign trail will be noisy, but let us listen not to the volume of their voices, but to the substance of their message.

No more blind loyalty. No more empty promises. No more selling our dignity for a ride to town or a free t-shirt.

This time, Roblot, La Maze, Debreuil, and Riviere Dorée will not be silenced.

We will rise.

We will speak.

And we will vote not for politicians, but for progress.