Bethel Town woman to use candidacy to advocate for Chief Tacky as national hero
McPherson-Williams lone woman among five independents in Westmoreland
WESTERN BUREAU:
THIS YEAR’S local government elections will feature one woman among five independent candidates who are seeking to win one of the 14 divisions in the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC).
Loraine McPherson-Williams resides in Bethel Town in the parish and has been at the helm of the Tacky Heritage Foundation since 2021.
McPherson-Williams told The Gleaner that she will use the Tacky Foundation platform to initiate a 10-year development and transformational plan with, and for the people of the Bethel Town division, providing a better way of life for everyone when she wins.
“We have the initiatives, and we are confident of massive support in this election,” the chairman of the Tacky Heritage Foundation said.
She shared that her desire to contest the local government election has presented itself as a suitable and viable platform to advance her advocacy for Chief-Tacky to be named a national hero, using her position as an elected councillor.
“This is a perfect platform to get into the political space as a councillor, from which my team and I can advance our plan for educating the people on the role carried out by Chief Tacky that has led to our freedom from slavery,” she said of the local government election.
Aaron G. Williams, a retired police corporal who lost his bid to become councillor in the 2016 local government elections on a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) ticket, has since registered as an independent candidate. Like McPherson-Williams, Williams will be contesting the Bethel Town division.
This time he is banking on his experience as a police officer who has served in the Westmoreland police division and, in particular, at the Bethel Town Police Station, to help him across the victory line next Monday.
“I ran in 2016 on the JLP ticket, but I have now decided to go Independent ,” Williams said. He revealed to The Gleaner that he left the JLP because of an unsettled disagreement between himself and Daniel Lawrence, the member of parliament for the Eastern Westmoreland constituency, which includes the Bethel Town division.
“The people in Bethel Town proper are behind me going as an Independent candidate. I was a police officer up there,” said Williams.
According to him, water and roads are two of the major issues of importance to residents in the communities of the division. He pledges to correct this when he is elected councillor through greater advocacy and collaboration.
“Water is our biggest issue here; we don’t have a steady supply of water in the communities, and we are not getting any justifiable response ,” Williams argued.
“When I am elected I will be leading a delegation of councillors from all parties and our residents to the National Water Commission (NWC) for them to tell us what the challenges are so that we can correct the problems,” he continued. “Next to water are our roads; they are very bad, and the government has promised to allocate some $150 million under the SPARK programme. I will be speaking with the Minister of Local Government to rehabilitate the priority roads in the division, especially those used by our farmers,” Williams added.
ADEQUATE REPRESENTATION
The two independent candidates will be going up against incumbent councillor Danree Delancy of the People’s National Party (PNP), Carolyn Ramsay of the JLP, and Winston Wright of the United Independents Congress (UIC).
Delancy first won the Bethel Town division in a by-election held on November 25, 2004. He went on to secure the seat in all local government elections held since then and served as deputy mayor of Savanna-la-Mar from 2012-2023. He lost that job in a political coup led by the JLP to oust him as part of a failed attempt to take control of the WMC from the Bertel Moore-led PNP caucus.
Also nominated to contest the Savanna-la-Mar division are Lee Simpson, the JLP’s incumbent councillor candidate, and the PNP’s Julian Chang.
Haile Mika’el Cujo, who has contested the last two local government elections, is again seeking to muster more votes, this time towards winning the Whitehouse division. In the local government elections of 2012, he received 50 votes, and in 2016 he polled 28.
“The citizens have prompted me to once again offer myself as a candidate in this local government election, therefore, they have nominated me,” he explained in a Gleaner interview.
He said that beyond being encouraged by the people, he decided to offer himself to ensure that the citizens of the Whitehouse division have adequate political representation.
“Belmont and other areas in the Whitehouse division are still not receiving the attention needed to satisfy the basic needs of water, electricity, paved roadways, street lighting, access to land for housing agriculture, or for business and recreational activities,” Mika’el Cujo said.
After serving for four municipal terms and being dumped by his former party, PNP candidate Lawton McKenzie, the incumbent independent councillor-candidate for the Grange Hill division in Westmoreland, says he has unfinished business with the people who have continuously elected him over the years.
“I am running because none of the two other candidates can put the people’s package together. The people believe in my leadership, and we have a good working relationship,” said McKenzie.
“We are a family, therefore, I am confident that I will be returned as the councillor on election day,” said McKenzie, who flip-flopped between the PNP and that of a self-declared Independent councillor in the last administrations of the WMC.
“I expect to return to the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation in fine style to complete some unfinished work,” he declared. “And when I am returned, I will quickly commence my advocacy on the Clinic Road in Grange Hill so that those sick and seeking healthcare can do so in comfort.
“I have a few ministers like Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, Desmond McKenzie, and Ed Bartlett to ask them to complete the promises that they made to me on behalf of the people of the division as it relates to community centres, roads, and water,” he noted.