No outsiders!

WESTERN BUREAU:

Although condemning his utterances that were seemingly endorsing the lottery scam, People’s National Party (PNP) supporters in Trelawny Northern are willing to leave Dennis Meadows’ “moment of indiscretion” in the past and move forward with him as their candidate for the upcoming general election.

If not Meadows, they say, then a replacement from the area should be selected, and not an outsider.

In fact, they told The Sunday Gleaner last week that they would not tolerate the party’s leadership handpicking who will marshal them to the election due late next year. They are urging PNP President Mark Golding to make the selection of the candidate inclusive and democratic with sole consideration for a native of the parish.

Meadows was yanked as the PNP’s standard-bearer for Trelawny Northern last Thursday after a video of him seemingly endorsing the illicit lottery scam went viral. There were immediate calls from various quarters for his removal.

“Let me tell you straight up, and me can speak openly, I have no problem if a man want chop (involvement in lottery scamming) because them chop us during slavery, so nothing wrong if we chop them back!” Meadows told party supporters at a rally leading up to the just-concluded local government elections.

The multibillion-dollar lottery scamming underworld has been a scourge on western Jamaica since it first emerged in 2005. It has had a devastating impact, with law enforcement declaring that it is responsible for the surge in major crimes, particularly murders, in the western parishes.

Using credit card information and lead sheets with individuals’ personal information they gleaned from workers in the BPO sector, scammers have bilked billions of dollars from mostly elderly Americans by convincing them that they had won a lottery but had to pay a processing fee to have the prize money released.

The scammers usually target one person for multiple payments and after bleeding them dry, move on to the next victim. Its devastating impact led to the formation of a special anti-gang and anti-lottery scamming task force consisting of local and international law enforcement personnel.

In 2022, National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang told Parliament that scammers were raking in an estimated US$1 billion annually, despite the enactment of the Law Reform Act of 2013 (lottery scam law), which was created to make it easier to target, arrest and extradite scammers to the United States to face justice.

Last week, citizens and civil society groups expressed outrage at Meadows’ utterances.

On Wednesday, he issued an apology and withdrew the remarks, saying they were “thoughtless and unwise”, and that he “condemns any form of fraud and criminal behaviour generally”.

A day later, the PNP removed him from the post. Golding said Meadows’ continuation as a candidate was untenable, given that scamming is one of Jamaica’s most serious security challenges.

SEVERAL NAMES BEING CIRCULATED

Several names have since been circulating as possible replacement for Meadows. Among them are Lisa Hanna, who has long announced that she will not be seeking re-election in St Ann North Eastern, where she is the sitting member of parliament (MP); and Wykeham McNeill, who contested and lost the Westmoreland Western seat to rookie Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate Morland Wilson in the 2020 general election.

But last week, PNP supporters in Trelawny Northern called for Meadows’ reinstatement or a “homegrown” candidate of their choosing.

“We don’t want any outsider as our MP. If we can’t get Meadows, we need a son of the soil. We have qualified persons in the parish. Our councillor here in Falmouth, Garth Wilkinson, is a former mayor and an experienced politician, and we have other homegrown people,” said Roberta Wiggan, who was among several PNP supporters at the party’s constituency office on Cornwall Street in Falmouth on Friday.

“We don’t want any MP who after dem win, dem pack up and go back to where they come from. You see like how we know where we can find Mr Meadows, we want a MP where we know him yard, and can find him when we need him.”

Asked about Hanna or McNeill as possibilities, they perished the thought, noting that McNeill lost what should have been a safe PNP seat to a political neophyte; while Hanna came within a handful of votes to losing a seat the PNP has never lost in a general election contested by the party since 1944.

In the 2020 general election, McNeill, who was the Westmoreland Western MP from 1997 to 2020, was soundly beaten 6,116 to 5,069. He has since made way for Ian Hayles, who will be the PNP’s standard-bearer in the constituency in the next general election.

In the case of Hanna, she eked out a close win over the JLP’s Delroy Granston by a 5,150 to 5,119 margin – the closest the PNP has ever come to being unseated at the polls in that constituency.

THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE

Businessman Dennis Gordon is among the PNP supports pleading for the Opposition leader to reinstate Meadows, albeit admitting that Meadows made a terrible blunder, which Golding could not have allowed to slide without acting. He, too, doesn’t want to see any outsiders foisted on them.

“We don’t want to be no dumping ground for high-profile PNP politicians who have run out of favour where they were, by either being voted out or otherwise rejected by the people,” Gordon told The Sunday Gleaner.

He said he was most impressed by the way Meadows has rebuilt the party’s machinery in the constituency after the 2020 defeat the party suffered when the JLP’s Tova Hamilton surprise the PNP incumbent, Victor Wright, 8,505 to 6,711.

“We want to give Dennis Meadows a chance. No Lisa, no McNeill. Even if Mr Golding want to run for North Trelawny, I would not accept him. We want to give Meadows a chance,” continued Gordon.

“We will have you, Mr Golding, as the prime minister of Jamaica because I believe in you like that. However, I don’t want anybody or anybody of your choice in North Trelawny. We want Dennis Meadows. He is the people’s choice.”

Meadows resigned from the JLP in March 2022 following what he described then as a toxic relationship. He joined the PNP a few months later and moved up in the hierarchy of the party, becoming chairman of the constituency and then caretaker candidate.

Other supporters who were not as strident as Gordon say they would reluctantly consider persons like Suzette Brown, who loss to Meadows in the recent run-off to select a candidate, or former MP Dr Patrick Harris, who had made way for former attorney general Patrick Atkinson, the only outsider to have ever won the seat on a PNP ticket.

“We tried one outsider in the past when we voted in Mr Atkinson as MP in 2011, but that arrangement did not work out for us, as while he tried his best, he never fully grasped the Trelawny flavour,” said Desrene Granville.

“After one term, Mr Atkinson knew he was not the man for us and made way for Victor.”

Interestingly, when Atkinson contested the Trelawny Northern seat in 2011, his opponent was Meadows, who was then the JLP’s standard-bearer. Atkinson won the seat by a comfortable 10,869 to 8,548 margin, handing Meadows the second of three defeats in the constituency.

After Atkinson decided against running for a second term, the party leadership tried to install another outsider, J.P. White, as a replacement. However, supporters vigorously rejected him. The PNP had no choice but to replace him for the 2016 general election with Wright, who went on to defeat Meadows by a 9,611 to 9,162 margin.

TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT

Even as his ardent supporters are calling for him to be reinstated, they all admit that Meadows crossed the line, although quickly pointing out that his comments were taken out of context and that the full video gives a clearer picture of what he was trying to say.

“He was not encouraging anybody to take up chopping (scamming). He was saying that if persons from the JLP came to us offering money for our vote, nothing was wrong with chopping and not voting for them. The part that went viral was like an overflow, very unfortunate,” said Mark Bislama, who was at the meeting when Meadows made the remarks.

“I was a Labourite and Mr Meadows come over to the PNP and many of us came with him because we recognise that he is a good man who care about people. It would be a mistake not to forgive him and give him back to the people. Without him, there might be a lot of defection back to the JLP.”

Another supporter said, “Honestly, what came out on that video that went viral was not a good look, but without context, I can understand why people have reacted the way they have because scamming is not something anybody who loves Jamaica should endorse, especially with all the murders linked to it.”

He continued, “I was present when the statement was made but to best understand what he was trying to get across, one would have to hear the entire presentation.

“I don’t support scamming and I am sure Mr Meadows don’t support scamming. What was put out painted a picture that warranted a strong and decisive response from the party, and I hope that in time, the party will see it fit to bring him back in the fold. He is a good man and like all of us, he, too, can make mistakes,” added the Comrade.

editorial@gleanerjm.com

…………………………………….

THE CHOICE OF PNP SUPPORTERS IN NORTH TRELAWNY

MARK BISLAMA

We are not looking outside of the parish for leadership. In fact, I believe the party found the perfect candidate in Dennis Meadows. Many Labourites have left the JLP to join him on the PNP side, and the PNP supporters have embraced him as never before. The PNP have a sure winner in Meadows, but they don’t know it.

DESRENE GRANVILLE

We don’t want any more outsiders in North Trelawny. Meadows is our choice, but if we can’t get him, we will only settle for someone from the parish. However, if we don’t keep Meadows, I have a strong feeling that if we are not careful in how we handle this current situation, we might just give away the seat.

ROBERTA WIGGAN

If we can’t get Mr Meadows, we need to look among ourselves for a replacement. As a man who has served as mayor of Falmouth, I believe our councillor, Garth Wilkinson, should be encouraged to step up to the plate. He has experience so he should be able to serve at the higher level.

NAJAER MCFARLANE

I believe we need to look inside the parish for a replacement if they don’t give us back Meadows. There is a young teacher from South Trelawny by the name of Andrae Ellis, who I met on the campaign trail. I see people like him as the future of the party, and while he is young in politics, his head is in the right place.

WAYNE SMALL

We want a good person who is willing to either work with Meadows or take up where he is leaving off. I am one of those people who don’t want another outsider to be our MP. When we have someone who lives here, our problems will be their problems, so that will be an incentive for them to represent well.

DENNIS GORDON

We want to give Dennis Meadows a chance. No Lisa (Hanna), no (Wykeham) McNeill. Even if Mr Golding (Mark) want to run for North Trelawny, I would not accept him; we want to give Meadows a chance.