Damion Crawford wants to claw back youth from JLP

Heading down the final stretch of his vice-presidential campaign, People's National Party (PNP) contender Damion Crawford has offered what he believes is the reason Prime Minister Andrew Holness is popular among the youth.

Crawford, at the same time, believes that if he is to cop one of the four vice-presidential slots, he would reverse the status quo, which he argues is bad for his party.

"These youths don't get political protection, but they want political protection, so they look to Holness because he looks like them. Just like how if [I am the prime minister], Rasta must think is fi dem time because I look like them.

"So, therefore, they start to look to Holness because he bears their image," the PNP spokesman on youth argued last week during an organised campaign event in Kingston.

However, he said that his name is being mentioned among those who the youth population believes can offer them political protection.

"Ninety per cent of the time, my name is somewhere in the midst," Crawford claimed.

"If we are to compete for them, why not give the people what they believe?" he further questioned.

IN NEED OF RENEWAL

In the meantime, Crawford has sought to respond to critics who argue that the PNP is "old" and in need of renewal.

"The leadership defines the party. Like now you hear people claim that the PNP is old and the JLP is young, but if you look pon it, the JLP isn't younger than the PNP. It's just that their leadership defines their party," he said.

"Because I tell them the other day, the JLP has Mike Henry, and Mike Henry is older than the Word, and in the beginning was the Word," he further quipped.

Crawford, along with Dr Angela Brown Burke, Dr Fenton Ferguson, Dr Wykeham McNeill and Mikael Phillips will square-off for the four posts of vice-president later this month in what is expected to be a hotly contested race.

romario.scott@gleanerjm.com

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