Party loyalty and apathy upstaging issues in the west
PARTY LOYALTY and apathy are upstaging issues in western Jamaica as campaigning for Monday’s local government elections enters the final stretch.
Electors in Trelawny, St James, Hanover, Westmoreland, and St Elizabeth readily point out that they are unhappy with the poor road conditions, the absence of potable water, poor garbage collection, the many clogged drains, and the poorly maintained cemeteries. However, they refuse to cross party lines in ascribing blame.
“My councillor Devon ‘Don Don’ Thomas is a very good councillor, but because he is on the PNP (People’s National Party) side, he is not getting any support from the Labourite (Jamaica Labour Party) member of parliament (MP), George Wright … . His hands are tied,” said Diana Forrester, who resides in the Savanna-la-Mar North division, which falls in Westmoreland Central. “We just have to keep him and vote out George Wright in the next general election.”
Wright now sits as a independent MP in the House, following his resignation from the JLP in 2021. He, however, has indicated that he still supports the Holness administration and its policies.
Barbara Blake, who resides in the same Savanna-la-Mar North division, said Thomas was the councillor when the PNP’s Dwayne Vaz was MP, and his performance was no better at that time.
“I will be voting for the JLP candidate … . I can’t remember his name right now, but is the JLP my thing deh,” said Blake, who admitted that she was born into a family that supports the JLP and is not willing to break with tradition. The JLP’s candidate in the division is Karlene Vickers.
When The Gleaner visited Clark’s Town, Trelawny, last week, some residents openly expressed anger with both the PNP and JLP, saying that both parties had abandoned the township, which falls in the Sherwood Content division.
“None of them can’t get my vote. They don’t deserve it. The road from Long Pond Sugar Estate to Duncans must be the worst road in Jamaica … . A just mile upon miles of so-so bumps and sinkhole,” a passing motorist shouted out to the Gleaner team.
ROAD REHABILITATION PROGRAMME
However, while the incumbent, the JLP’s Dunstan Harper, readily admits that the roads are in a bad shape, he said they are earmarked for upgrading from the $40-billion road rehabilitation programme recently announced. That programme will be mainly channelled through MPs.
“I plan to have the roads repaired in my next term,” said Harper. “The focus was first on the highways and now attention will turn to the interior roads. The prime minister has identified the funding, so all that is left is to get the job done.”
However, Harper’s PNP opponent, former police officer Charles Wilson, says his opponent’s greatest asset is to make promises that he knows he will not keep, which he thinks is reason enough for the electors to reject him.
“He (Harper) and the JLP are good at making promises and not keeping them, so ‘time come’ for the people to vote them out,” said Wilson. “The road from Clark’s Town to Duncans is more than enough reason to vote out this councillor and his party.”
The western region is also expected to see an interesting test of loyalty in Westmoreland Western on Monday, as Ian Myles and Garfield James, who contested and won the Little London and Sheffield divisions, respectively, for the PNP in 2016, will be facing the electorate as JLP candidates this time around.
“We (Myles and James) have served the people well since 2016, and I know they respect the work we have done,” said Myles, who is a teacher at the Little London High School, where James is principal. “I believe that wherever we go, the people will follow. It is more than just supporting a party; it is supporting two councillors who have served them well over the years.”
In the Ipswich division, in St Elizabeth, the only division in St Elizabeth North Western in the hands of the PNP, MP J.C. Hutchinson made no bones about wanting the JLP’s Kenroy Samuels unseat the PNP’s Mugabe Kilimanjaro, who defeated Samuels in 2016.
“It is much better to have a JLP member of parliament and JLP councillor working together because, in addition to being from the same party, we would naturally share the same ideas,” said Hutchinson. “We are working hard to get the support of the people and I believe we will.”