Crawford: Don't diss VP rivals

PEOPLE'S NATIONAL Party (PNP) vice-presidential hopeful Damion Crawford has taken the high road days before the elections to choose four vice-presidents of the party by urging his supporters to be respectful of all candidates.

The outspoken Crawford, in a public post on social-media site Facebook, congratulated his opponents for running a "predominantly clean campaign", even as he spoke highly of all his opponents.

"... I have found them all to be worthy competitors and it's for this reason I am asking all my supporters to keep it clean over the last week of the campaign. I beg of you, my supporters, to ignore any motivation to discredit another candidate. I beg that you restrain yourselves from even commenting on negative statements, whether it's about me or any of the others ... ," wrote Crawford on Monday.

Commenting on the contestants, he said he has come to admire them all.

"I know that Wykeham is a calm, calculated individual who loves the party because of what it has done for him personally, and what he has seen it do for the nation in general," he said of Dr Wykeham McNeill, who is member of parliament (MP) for Westmoreland Western, and spokesman on tourism.

Crawford salutes contenders

Crawford has described Phillip Paulwell, one of the contenders in the race, as "very innovative", true to his word, and loyal to the party and his people.

Paulwell is MP for Kingston Eastern and St Andrew.

Of Dr Fenton Ferguson, he said, "I have learnt that Fenton is an elder statesman, in every sense of the word, whose experience is not only great in quantity, but also quality."

Crawford, a former junior minister in the Ministry of Tourism and ex-MP for St Andrew East Rural, is not known to be on friendly terms with the only female contestant among the six, Angela Brown Burke, the MP for St Andrew South Western.

"I have learnt that Angela is indeed stronger than many think and unafraid to face the fire ... fuelled simply by her convictions. I have learnt that she [values] her right to contribute and is unwilling to give up or suspend that right," Crawford wrote.

Addressing Mikael Phillips, son of PNP leader Dr Peter Phillips, he said: "I have learnt that Mikael (Phillips) is more than just Peter's son. He is a son of the nation who is independent in thought and committed to making his own mark standing on his own two feet.

Meanwhile, PNP General Secretary Julian Robinson said each contestant will contribute $200,000 towards the staging of the elections. However, conference costs are still being calculated, he told The Gleaner yesterday.