‘I was not ready to lose’

Dwayne Vaz is confident that he will regain the Westmoreland Central seat he lost in 2020 to George Wright when the next general election is called as the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) rebuilds its machinery in the parish.

“I definitely was not ready to lose in 2020, but I am ready to regain the seat,” Vaz told The Sunday Gleaner.

Vaz was first elected in a 2014 by-election after the death of former Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke. He then contested and won the seat during a general election two years later.

However, his 7,288 votes were not enough to ward off a challenge from George Wright in 2020, as the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate polled 8,477 votes. Wright currently sits as the only independent MP, after he resigned from the party amid controversy in 2021.

Noting that his 2020 loss was a devastating blow, as the PNP lost all three constituencies in Westmoreland, Vaz told The Sunday Gleaner that the political climate at the time helped to swing the polls in favour of the ruling JLP.

Among the issues, he noted, was that the party was still divided after a 2019 internal presidential battle between Dr Peter Phillips and Peter Bunting.

“I think it was a combination of things. As the member of parliament, naturally, I have to take some of the responsibility for it, but the party also has to take some responsibility. If you remember what was happening, the party was not attractive at the time,” he recalled.

“We were very divided because we were just coming out of a presidential contest the year before. If you look around Jamaica, almost every PNP seat, except for a few in Kingston, we all lost by over 1,000 votes,” Vaz said.

At the same time, Vaz stated that based on the 2016 general election, Wright’s votes remained steady in 2020, while his numbers plummeted. In 2016, Vaz raked in 9,978 votes (which fell by more than 2,690 in 2020), while Wright received 8,847 (which fell by 370 votes in 2020).

There was a 45 per cent voter turnout in the constituency in 2016, while in 2020, only 36 per cent of the electors cast ballots.

“What that really signalled is that the People’s National Party supporters did not turn out, so it’s not like more people voted for the JLP, but our votes went down significantly and it tends to happen when the party is not in a state where people find us attractive,” he reasoned.

Vaz told The Sunday Gleaner that the opposition party, led by President Mark Golding, has embarked on a facelift, which may influence voters in the next general election.

“The people see us in a much better light than … four years ago. People have confidence that we have a leader who has integrity and who can bring Jamaica to where it needs to be. It was a once-in-a-generation thing that happened. It happened in 1980 and it happened again in 2020. We have to take our hits for it. Some things should have been done better and we have learned from our mistakes,” Vaz explained.

REGAINING POPULARITY

He sees the results of the February 2024 local government elections as “a clear indication” that the PNP is regaining popularity in Westmoreland. The opposition party currently holds 11 of the 14 divisions in Westmoreland, with four of five in Westmoreland Central.

“The main thing was to reorganise our political machinery and that would include ensuring that the workers are in place. After February, four of them are now councillors and we still have one division that we lost narrowly by only 17 votes, so we are in a very good position leading into a general election.

“We are in a much stronger position. Going into the local, we only had one division under the column of the People’s National Party because we lost four of them in 2016. I guess it was a wake-up call for us from that election and what happened in the general election in 2020,” Vaz said.

Meanwhile, Vaz is looking to continue his major projects if he should be given the nod once again. For example, he said there is a need for the continuation of his sporting initiatives across the constituency. Under his leadership of the constituency, Vaz said that three high schools received new multi-purpose courts for their students.

“We were on a path of development when I was there as member of parliament. A lot of things were abruptly stopped since the MP changed, and we intend to ensure that we regain focus in the constituency, and get back on track for the development of Central Westmoreland. When it comes to sports, I will boast and say that I had the biggest football league for a politician in Jamaica. I had over 40 teams in my competition every year. Since I left, sports have died,” Vaz bemoaned.

Additionally, the former MP is hopeful that he will be able to continue a land regularisation project he started, along with improving the infrastructure, including the road network.

rochelle.clayton@gleanerjm.com