Dayton Campbell says seat fortified against Krystal Lee push

Firebrand member of Parliament for St Ann North West, Dayton Campbell, said that he remained unperturbed by the challenge posed by prospective Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate Krystal Lee in the upcoming general election.

Lee was recently appointed to the caretakership for the JLP after former contender Ruel Reid was withdrawn because he is embroiled in corruption court hearings in relation to his oversight of the Ministry of Education and the Caribbean Maritime University. Lee, councillor for the Retreat division in St Mary, was recently confirmed to the position.

However, Campbell said that he was optimistic about his chances of retaining the seat he first won in 2011 and retained in 2016.

“I do not detain myself about who my opponent is. Politics still remains a contest that is supposed to be about the issues involved in the constituency,” he said in response to queries from The Gleaner.

“Being from the constituency, I am fully familiar with those issues.”

CONFIDENT BUT NOT COMPLACENT

Campbell said that his team has done a lot of work in the constituency and that he had taken heed of JLP leader Andrew Holness’ public utterances that the ruling party would be targeting St Ann North West in a general election constitutionally due by 2021.

“We have ensured that we have done the necessary political work to fortify our base. It was not a wise decision for the Labour Party to say to a politician four years in advance that ‘we’re targeting your constituency’ because unless they thought that I didn’t understand politics, that I must have put things in place to fortify my base to ensure that I enhance my chances.

“So I’m extremely confident, but not complacent,” Campbell stated.

The People’s National Party (PNP) has won the St Ann North West seat on more occasions than the JLP has. In fact, since the seat was first contested in 1962, the JLP has won on three occasions – 1980 with Princess Lawes, 2002 with Verna Parchment, and 2007 with Othneil Lawrence. The party also took the seat in 1983 when the PNP boycotted the general election.

Meanwhile, JLP Chairman Robert Montague said that his party was “quite ready”.

“The party is on track because as a political movement, our mission is to be ready at a moment’s notice,” Montague, who is MP for St Mary Western, told The Gleaner.

“Over the last eight weeks, we’ve been revising our organisation because at this time of the year, in March, is when we do party registration, and each constituency is required to bring their organisation up to speed so that by the end of March, all constituencies will be registered so that you can qualify for delegates for conference in November.”