Newly appointed opposition senator Jonathan Wehner has expressed heartfelt gratitude to his family, church community, teachers, friends and political colleagues following his selection to serve in the Senate.
According to Antigua News Room, Wehner was appointed by Opposition Leader Jamale Pringle and formally sworn in during a ceremony at Government House on Monday, alongside the other newly selected opposition senators.
"It is an honour to be selected by my Political Leader and Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Jamale Pringle, to take up this responsibility to represent and serve Antigua and Barbuda, the youths of our nation and the United Progressive Party," Wehner wrote in a lengthy statement shared on Sunday.
The young senator thanked God, his parents and extended family for their constant support, describing them as "ever present and faithful" in his upbringing. He also acknowledged the ECBM circuit of churches for its role in his spiritual development and credited teachers throughout his education for their encouragement and guidance.
Wehner reserved particular praise for members of the United Progressive Party, whom he described as a family that supported him through both good times and difficult ones.
"My brothers and sisters of the UPP have always watched over me as their own blood relative," he stated.
He also extended thanks to childhood friends and colleagues from the National Youth Parliament Association of Antigua and Barbuda — though not without a touch of humour, pleading with them to spare him any online embarrassment.
"I'm just begging y'all not to embarrass me by putting any nicknames or stories on social media," he said.
Closing his message on a reflective note, Wehner summed up the support he has received throughout his life with a familiar phrase: "A village really did raise this young man."
Wehner is among the opposition senators appointed following the United Progressive Party's defeat in the April 30 general election, in which the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party secured a fourth consecutive term in office.
