Wright eyeing increased majority; third time the charm, says Meadows
WESTERN BUREAU: IF RHETORIC is anything to go by, it should be a battle royal between agronomist Victor Wright, who is representing the People’s National Party (PNP), and social activist Dennis Meadows, the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) standard-bearer for the North Trelawny constituency in the upcoming general election.
After being nominated yesterday at the Falmouth Town Hall in Trelawny, both Wright, who came in as a last-minute candidate after tax issues forced John-Paul White to quit, and Meadows, who made two unsuccessful bids for the seat in the past, were both bubbling with confidence.
“I am 100 per cent confident that I will win this seat – possibly with a bigger majority than the last time,” said Wright, who came to the nomination centre surrounded by outgoing Member of Parliament (MP) Patrick Atkinson and former MPs Desmond Leaky and Windell Stewart. “All the Comrades are united behind my candidacy, so we are settled, united, and ready to go.”
For Meadows, who suffered back-to-back defeats to Dr Patrick Harris in 2007 and Atkinson in 2011, he is absolutely convinced that the third time will be the charm, based on the new strategies he is employing this time around.
CONFIDENT MEADOWS
“In the previous campaign, I had a weak management structure, but that has changed. In fact, I am confident that the third time will be the charm,” said Meadows, who recently married a Trelawny woman and now lives in the parish. “I will be working in the areas where I am strong to generate maximum support. I believe I have more votes in the areas where I am strong than the PNP has in places like Falmouth, which is one of their strongholds.”
Wright, who had no inclination towards representational politics until he was encouraged by party officials to fill the void created by White’s departure, said that as a result of being a trained agronomist, he would be
paying a great deal of attention to agriculture.
“As a young man, I will also be paying a lot of attention to youth issues and education,” said the William Knibb High School graduate born in 1974.
Meadows said that his focus
would be on getting Falmouth cleaned up and presentable, arguing that as a cruise-shipping town, it was currently far too filthy.
“I most definitely will be cleaning up Falmouth. You can’t have a town where you are
inviting visitors and locals to and it is in this state,” said Meadows. “We will also be putting in a central sewage system to satisfy the town’s expanding infrastructure.”