Bunting: My track record speaks for itself
Chin unfazed at prospects of a challenge from former Manchester Central MP
Published:Sunday | February 11, 2024 | 7:31 AMCorey Robinson - Senior Staff Reporter
He was walloped and unseated from the Manchester Central constituency in the 2020 general election. The year before that, he lost the leadership bid for the People’s National Party (PNP). And to date, some are still shaking their heads at his “divine intervention” pleas to fix Jamaica’s crime problem a decade ago while he headed the national security ministry.
Nonetheless, the now-Senator Peter Bunting is confident he will be back in the Lower House after the next general election, which is due by the end of next year.
This time, he has his eyes set on Manchester Southern, where a tough-talking Member of Parliament (MP) Robert Chin – who defeated the PNP’s Michael Stewart by 890 votes in 2020 – regards him as no threat and a man with nothing to offer the constituents.
“People know him (Bunting) and they know what he is capable of doing. That will work against him,” charged Chin, as he led his four local government nominees to the Cross Keys centre on Thursday. There, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters from the four divisions – Newport, Alligator Pond, Porus, and Grove Town – gathered in their numbers.
Among PNP and JLP supporters, the concerns regarding the lack of potable water were loudest, and while Chin said much has been done to assuage the problem during his tenure – “and there are a lot of wells in Manchester, the problem is just the cost of getting the water to the customers” – he is confident that his opposition can offer no better representation.
“I feel motivated and energised with the crowd that is here; and it gives me motivation to move forward. I’ve nominated four candidates and I expect that when the polls are closed and the ballots are counted, I will be taking home all four,” Chin told The Sunday Gleaner.
ELECTION LOSS NOT PERSONAL
Four years ago, newcomer Rhoda Crawford hoisted a comfortable three-term MP Bunting from the Manchester Central seat, claiming 8,097 votes, while Bunting garnered 7,112.
It was one of the monumental victories for the JLP, which won 49 of the 63 constituencies in the 2020 general election.
“Given his presence in this constituency, I think he has lost 20-25 per cent of the PNP’s base support. He might have probably picked up two per cent of the uncommitted, but they don’t want him here,” boasted Chin amid the sea of green-clad supporters.
“The last time he campaigned on a slogan of ‘Performance Boss’ and they kicked him out Manchester Central. Now I’m going to rename him. He is now ‘No Traction Boss’!”
Downplaying the political noise, Bunting surmised that what happened in Manchester Central was just a major swing, just like what happened in Westmoreland, which was regarded as “PNP country”.
This time around, he has offered himself based on a call from the people of Manchester Southern, he said, which is a deviation of his plans to not contest another election.
“Having won four of five elections that I have contested, that is an incredible record. None were in safe seats,” Bunting declared to The Sunday Gleaner, as the waves of PNP supporters gathered in Cross Keys square, vuvuzelas, motorbike engines, and loud speakers with PNP jingles characterised the din.
“I don’t take that (loss) personally, and in any event, it is not about me as an individual; it is about what I can bring to the table and the representation that I can offer to the people. My ego is not invested in winning or losing. My objective is to serve the people in whatever way I can,” said Bunting, as the crowd cheered him on.
In response to Chin’s “no-traction boss” comments, Bunting smiled, responding, “There are people who come in relatively unknown like him, and they ride a wave and they confuse a national swing with merit for their candidacy. So I would just caution them, ‘don’t confuse a national swing with their own candidate appeal. It’s two completely different things’.”
SOLVING CRIME REQUIRES A MORE HOLISTIC APPROACH
Bunting said there are several plans in the pipeline to deal with the crime crisis should the PNP return to power and he once again takes charge of the national security portfolio.
“You only have to look at my track record versus the eight years under the JLP. If the JLP had only maintained the margin of murder rate that they inherited, which was still too high, but if they had just kept it there, 2,000-odd more people would be alive in Jamaica today,” he said.
“And they have had many times the resources, 10 times the capital budget than I had when I was minister, and yet we had performed better than they are.”
Bunting said solving crime requires a more holistic approach than the JLP’s efforts. It’s a balance between crime prevention and crime control, the latter done by the police. Crime prevention, he said, is investing in the people to divert them from a life of crime.
WATER THE MAIN FOCUS
Last week, 499 candidates were nominated for local government elections islandwide, which are scheduled to take place on February 26.
In Manchester Southern, the JLP nominees are Martin Gill for Alligator Pond, Martin Tomlinson for Newport, Iceval Brown for Grove Town, and Claudia Morant-Baker for Porus.
The PNP nominees are Omar Robinson for Alligator Pond, Anthony Bryce for Newport, Ronald Schloss for Grove Town, and Peta-Gaye Blake-Campbell for the Porus division.
“Recently, some communities have gotten piped water. We have recently put 50 new persons on the piping system and because of that, we know we are going to get bigger and better. We won’t stop until every house in Porus gets water. We can’t let Porus people suffer the way they do; and that’s the major issue for us,” offered Claudia Morant-Baker, to chants of “shower labourite” from her supporters.
Meanwhile, her rival, Blake-Campbell, energised orange-clad supporters at the packed Cross Keys square with enticing promises for Porus.
“A vote for Peta-Gaye means access to better lighting. A vote for Peta-Gaye means access to better waste management. There is too much garbage; the market is a disgrace. We have to repurpose the market in Porus. The community centres are a waste, a lot of people want work to do; they want training. The farmers are suffering,” Blake-Campbell said.