Committed to service
DAEDRE ‘KAYDEAN’ MOULTON – JLP, RETREAT DIVISION, ST MARY WESTERN
NAME AN organisation and it’s possible that ‘Kaydean’ has been part of it, either as the leader, organiser or a member – from youth clubs and church groups to the Jamaica Teachers’ Association District Association, of which she is parish president-elect.
This pastor’s daughter has known service all her life, but has desires to up the ante by entering representational politics as a candidate for the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in the February 26 municipal polls.
“Everybody knows me as Kaydean, but my correct name is Daedre Moulton. That is what is coming on the ballot,” she told The Sunday Gleaner three weeks ago.
“Because I was raised in the church, we are always doing outreach programmes. My yard was seen as a big yard, and is still seen as a big yard. It does not matter who you are or where you are coming from, my mother a guh find something to give you to eat,” said Moulton, acknowledging a long-held tradition of generosity among rural folks.
A trained teacher, she has been influencing young minds even as she, too, was influenced.
“If you are naked, my mother going to clothe you and she not asking which party you belong to. When I was president of the Gayle community youth group, we put on different competitions and the teams were always a mixture of individuals, and there was no team of Labourites against Comrades.You can’t have one-sided teams,” she said, adding that the thought never even crossed her mind.
Politics was a natural fit for the aspiring councillor, who said she has been one of the biggest supporters of projects in the various communities in St Mary Western.
The Retreat division has been without a representative since 2020, when then-representative Krystal Lee was elected to the House of Representatives, defeating the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Dr Dayton Campbell.
The results of the last local government elections in 2016 showed the JLP receiving 1,675 ballots, or 54.4 per cent, of the votes cast. The PNP received 1,361, or 44.2 per cent, with 42 rejected ballots. There were 7,377 eligible voters.
The Retreat division has changed hands between the parties over time, but Moulton said the reception has been welcoming and she has been working well with the different groups and residents of different communities.
She singled out the Tower Isle Citizens’ Association, a community of largely returning residents, and the farmers groups of Three Hills, among others.
ACHIEVING SUCCESS TOGETHER
“The division is communityoriented and they want to see the development of the different communities. Take, for example, the community of Stewart Mountain, a nice, quiet farming community. They approached me and said they want to put up some street lights. I worked with them and we got it done. Now, there are solar street lights,” she told The Sunday Gleaner. For her, it’s about providing the leadership, and helping residents to organise and achieve success together.
“They are looking for someone to help them build their community. So I wouldn’t say it’s a safe PNP or JLP division because both sides have won it. My chances are looking very good. I am no stranger to them. Even before now, I was always working with them, and I have been in the division since 2016,” Moulton said. Winning the division, for her, would be a means of continuing that service. Improvement to parochial roads, installation of street lights, improved garbage collection, and upgrade water supplies are all things she hopes to tackle. A project to upgrade a spring in one of the communities is currently under way, through a rural water programme. That upgrade includes outfitting the system with solar pumps to reduce electricity costs and is a project on which she is currently working. It will bring the Governor’s Pen and Richards Pen communities a more reliable water supply when completed. These communities, Moulton said, are attractive to new landowners, who have constructed homes and require an efficient water supply.