Don Foote wants to become first independent mayor of Savanna-la-Mar
Published:Monday | February 19, 2024 | 12:23 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
Western Bureau:
Disbarred attorney and leader of the Jamaica Abolitionist Movement (JAM) Don Foote says he wants to become the first independent mayor of Savanna-la-mar and the wider parish of Westmoreland.
Foote, who is no stranger to the political arena, was nominated as an independent candidate to contest the February 26, local government elections in which he is running against incumbent councillor-candidate Lee Simpson of the Jamaica Labour Party and councillor-candidate Julian Chang of the People’s National Party (PNP) in the Savanna-la-Mar division of Central Westmoreland.
“I am running, not just to be a councillor; I am running to be the mayor [of Savanna-la-mar],” said Foote, who will be facing the electorate for the first time at the local- government level.
“I think I am the best person to be the mayor for the parish of Westmoreland, it is not just for Savanna-la-Mar,” he told The Gleaner.
According to Foote, the JAM a pressure group seeking to create a balance of power and to ignite a campaign around the abolition of the current local government system where persons are appointed mayor for a designated town or city instead of for their entire parish.
He said the ideal system for which he’s advocating is similar to that of Portmore where the mayor since 2003 is directly elected by the people.
George Lee, of the PNP, was the first person to be directly elected as mayor in Jamaica and the English-speaking Caribbean.
Keith Hines, of the JLP, and incumbent mayor of Portmore, Leon Thomas are the others who have so far benefited from the direct election of mayor.
But, while acknowledging that that process is a good start, Foote wants Westmoreland and all other parishes to be given the autonomy of choosing their mayors.
NOT ENOUGH
He lamented that the system needs to go further, where the people elect their mayors, respectively, on a parish-wide basis, pointing out that what existed in Portmore, and other towns and capitals, is not enough to effectively develop the parishes and hold mayors responsible.
“I want to be considered as the mayor of Westmoreland, but because of the existing system, I have to find a parish council division to get into the parish council [Westmoreland Municipal Corporation] and to get myself elected as the mayor,” Foote explained.
He noted that, for him to be on the ballot paper in this local election, it is a step towards him becoming the first independently, directly elected mayor for Westmoreland.
However, quizzed as to how he plans to get past the cultural political practice where the mayor is chosen by the party with the majority seat count or by popular votes received where there’s a tie, Foote said as an independent candidate he has enough ties with both the PNP and the JLP to acquire the votes to become chairman of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation and mayor of Savanna-la-Mar.
“I am not denying that it is a difficult and uphill task, but I have deep roots in the PNP and I [was] a member of the JLP, and I anticipate that they are going to vote for me, so that does not deter me,” Foote said.
Foote was disbarred in 2019, but was granted a stay of that order and, while he appealed that decision, ran unsuccessfully in the September 3, 2020 general elections as an independent candidate against George Wright of the JLP and Dwayne Vaz of the PNP.
Prior to that, the legal luminary represented the JLP in the 2011 general election in Westmoreland Eastern, where he lost to the PNP’s Luther Buchanan by 8,066 votes to 3,071.
However, in his quest to secure the top job as mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, the abolitionist movement advocate said Westmoreland, though struggling economically, is a sleeping giant.
“Westmoreland is a sleeping giant, and I’ve vowed to wake up the giant,” Foote said, if and when he is elected in the local government election next week.