Wheatley sees no challenge
DR ANDREW Wheatley, the very popular member of parliament for South Central St Catherine, was yesterday dismissive of any feasible challenge from Norris Grant, the People’s National Party candidate he will face in the February 25 general election.
“This is a routine one-horse race. As you can see, there is only one member of parliament for South St Catherine and it is Dr Andrew Wheatley, representing the Jamaica Labour Party,” he told The Gleaner after being nominated at 12:50 p.m. at Daniel’s Complex off the Old Harbour Road.
“In fact, we don’t even know who is running against us, but what we are doing is running for the people. We are representing the people – people who support us, people who do not support any political party. We are about development of all persons living within the constituency of South Central St Catherine. It’s just one team,” the incumbent boasted.
Explaining that he was not complacent, Wheatley, who was accompanied by a strong turnout of supporters whose march from his constituency office to the nomination centre disrupted the traffic flow, was overflowing with confidence.
“As you can see, we are pulling out the stops to ensure that this is about the margin of victory, to show that the Jamaica Labour Party is in full control of South Central St Catherine,” he declared.
In the 2007 general election, Wheatley beat back the challenge of trade unionist Vincent Morrison, polling 6,833 to the 3,566 votes the trade unionist got – a margin of 3,267.