‘We nuh need no more goat’ - Portland West MP lashes Crawford
Published:Monday | March 18, 2019 | 12:21 AM
The Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Daryl Vaz has taken aim at the People’s National Party’s candidate for Portland Eastern, Damion Crawford, over his promise to issue goats to schoolchildren instead of book vouchers should he win the April 4 by-election.
Vaz, whose wife Ann-Marie is the JLP candidate for the by-election, was in Prospect in the constituency for campaign activities on Friday when he took on Crawford, making it clear that he would continue to stand in defence of his spouse.
“Any guy who wants to get to her has to go through me,” Vaz said of his wife, who has come under attack from the PNP’s camp.
The Portland West member of parliament said Ann-Marie Vaz would continue to support constituents in their quest to get a better education for themselves, but insisted that the model Crawford was suggested could not work.
“Tell Damion Crawford, keep him goat dem, because we nuh need no more goat. And just like what I do in West Portland, I spend $15 million a year to help pickney go back to school. School voucher, school book, university fee and him a tell yuh seh him a gi yuh a goat,” Vaz said, addressing a massive crowd of JLP supporters.
Crawford, since March 3, has been telling constituents about his plan, arguing that rearing the animal was more sustainable than the issuance of vouchers to assist children to go to school.
“Don’t come to me for a book voucher, come to me for a she-goat. Because one she-goat can buy many books,” he argued during his address to supporters in Port Antonio Square, Portland, when he was first introduced as the party’s pick for the by-election.
But Vaz questioned: “So, when him give yuh the goat for back-to-school, how long it going to take that goat, [worse] a she-goat, to reproduce?”
Vaz said he and his wife have lived in Portland for the last 16 years, suggesting that their commitment to the parish was unquestionable.
“Every night me go a my yard and me lie down inna me own bed. Crawford rent a house fi three months. So, if him win, him gone; if him lose, him gone cause a three month worth a rent him pay. Run weh dat!” he charged.