‘Long time in coming’

Yesterday’s nomination of Duane Smith as the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate for the St Andrew North Western by-election reignited expectations among Labourites that he may follow in his father Derrick’s footsteps as the parliamentary representative for the constituency.

Smith’s ambitions were put on hold six years ago to make way for former Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke, closing the lid on his bid to succeed the elder Smith after 29 years as the member of parliament.

Minutes after his candidacy was made official, he told journalists that “finally”, he had been given the opportunity for service at a higher level.

“Labourites, this has been a long time in coming in North West St Andrew. Labourites, as you said, it’s my time now, and I’m very prepared for the job. I thank you for your unwavering support over all these many years,” he said following his nomination at the Pembroke Hall Restorative Justice Centre in the constituency.

“A lot of work has been done in North West over the last couple of decades, and I am here to add on to the work that has already been done,” he said, adding that the constituency he is seeking to represent in Parliament has a road problem.

The third-term councillor for the Chancery Hall division said he would be advocating “assiduously to get North West St Andrew’s fair share of the $45-billion SPARK Programme”.

He said his first priority, if elected, woud be to address the road network in the constituency, which, he acknowledged, is poor.

“We’ve done a lot, but there is so much more to do. So my priority is getting some roads fixed,” he said.

Smith’s nomination follows the departure of Clarke, who took up a deputy managing director job at the International Monetary Fund last week.

Clarke became member of parliament for St Andrew North Western in 2018, defeating the opposition People’s National Party’s (PNP) Keshia Hayle in a by-election.

Yesterday, Andrew Holness, the JLP leader and prime minister, said Smith was ready to come off the sideline.

“As it is the culture of our party, nothing is done by dictate. It’s about having consensus and understanding as far as possible, and Duane understood that the exigencies of the time is that former Minister Clarke would have been the representative.

“Now, I believe that within that six years, Duane would have had time to grow and to have a deeper and better understanding of representation, and as a councillor, he would have exercised those duties to the fullest. He would have also had an opportunity to strengthen his organisational skills. So I think at this time, he is now ready for representational politics,” said Holness.

At the same time, Holness defended his decision to announce the St Andrew North Western by-election and three others in Trelawny Southern and the Morant Bay and Aenon Town divisions before the general election.

“Democracy always has a price in terms of the cost of the machinery of democracy, but that is nowhere as expensive as anarchy and chaos. So even though we always try to be frugal with everything we do whether it is the cost of by-elections or the cost of roads or whatever else the Government has to manage, the health of the democracy is indispensable, and elections are critical to that,” Holness said.

He said the JLP is going through a process of renewal on several levels, which includes internal systems and human resources.

Holness said the political process is critical to Jamaica’s development and that more people are needed in the fold.

“I know that there are always negative views about politics and politicians, but the truth is without us getting our best people into representational politics, we will never truly be able to elevate the level of service we give to the public,” he said.

Meanwhile, two independent candidates — Rohan Banks and Carl Marshall — were nominated earlier to contest the by-election.

The two are former representatives of the PNP.

Banks contested the seat for the PNP in the September 2020 general election while Marshall served as member of parliament and Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Holness said the nomination of the two candidates means that the by-election is a contested one.

“My message to our supporters, to concerned residents, to electors in this constituency, is to take the election serious and come out and cast your ballot in favour of Duane Smith,” said Holness.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com