Election Watch
Homer in a quandary - - Loss in 2-in-1 election could leave MoBay mayor in the cold - Davis, Small confident of coming out tops in St James Southern
Published:Sunday | July 26, 2020 | 12:22 AMMark Titus - Staff Reporter
As the nation waits to hear whether Jamaicans will be called to elect new councillors and members of parliament in polls held simultaneously, some politicians could face an uncertain future as occasionally losing candidates in one election are nominated to run in the other to maintain their profile.
Among them is Montego Bay Mayor Homer Davis, who lost two previous bids to get to House of Representatives via St James Southern to the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Derrick Kellier.
St James has five constituencies with Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) MPs Edmund Bartlett, Dr Horace Chang, Marlene Malahoo Forte and Heroy Clarke holding down the fort in four. Kellier holds the sole seat for the PNP in the parish.
With Davis losing to Kellier in 2011 and 2016, he could find himself in the cold if both the local government and general elections were held together and he is unable to turn his fortune.
However, he is optimistic about his chances this time around as Kellier goes into retirement and passes the baton to retired educator Dr Walton Small.
Davis Confident
“I am very confident. The response I am getting now, I have never gotten it before, so I am very comfortable with where I am now. I am pleased with how things are shaping up,” Davis told The Sunday Gleaner. “I have been doing my work, and the work continues until the evening of the election.”
Asked about the two-in-one election dilemma, he said: “My interest is for my party retaining government, and if I can assist the process by winning that constituency for the Jamaica Labour Party, then everything else becomes secondary.”
The opposition PNP has controlled St James Southern since the 1989 polls, when the party swept to power taking 45 of the then 60 parliamentary seats. Voter turnout was 78.4 per cent.
The constituency is divided into four divisions, with the JLP controlling Maroon Town, Welcome Hall, and Cambridge, while Catadupa was being represented by the PNP’s Gladstone Bent, who was one of two councillors recently booted from the Davis-led St James Municipal Corporation after missing three consecutive council meetings.
Kellier has won the seat for seven consecutive terms since 1989, but the 73-year-old former government minister signalled his intention to step aside for health reasons almost two years ago.
However, Kellier’s margin of victory has been declining in his most recent outings, winning the seat by 1,072 votes in 2011 national polls against Davis, who is also the councillor for the Cambridge division in the constituency. He staved off Davis’ 2016 challenge by a mere 62 votes, injecting confidence among the JLP camp that victory is on the horizon.
Some constituents are giving Kellier the flak over his performance as MP in the agricultural heartland for three decades.
“All farmers want are road and water and not even as minister of agriculture did he seek to help his own,” said a shopkeeper in Welcome Hall. “Farmers continue to struggle, and as you see for yourself, the road condition is appalling. I am PNP and will always be PNP, but I did not vote the last time because I have lived through almost 40 years of empty promises.”
Small Upbeat
However, Small, the former head of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association, who also served as headmaster of Anchovy High in the parish and Wolmer’s Boys’ School in Kingston, believes Kellier has laid a solid foundation for him.
“I am very upbeat about the reception from the constituents,” Small told The Sunday Gleaner. “This is an area that I have served and I believe I will win.
“The MP has built a solid foundation in the constituency, but especially the younger ones might not be aware, but I have been walking the constituency and the support is tremendous, so we will continue our house-to-house visits to hear about the individual needs because while I have my plans for the constituency, each community is unique and I want to hear what their concerns are.”
But the JLP is confident that whenever the election is called Davis will be declared the winner.
“He is the best-performing mayor ever in this parish and the impact is evident,” commented Antoinette Facey, a resident of Cotton Tree Heights in Anchovy. “Many persons who did not vote in the last election are planning to vote because of what they see he has done. I personally am impressed.”
Political commentator Shalmon Scott said if Jamaica should hold both polls simultaneously, Davis would be better suited to contest the general election. He sees businessman Dwight ‘Debo’ Crawford, councillor for the Spring Garden division in the St James Municipal Corporation, as a suitable replacement for Davis in the mayor’s chair.
“Crawford is blossoming into a political person that must be viewed on a level of serious,” Scott said. “Since his entry into politics, he is one of the emerging young politicians that one will not be wasting their time in observing his choices and how he operates.”
Word emerged last weekend that Davis was being eyed as a possible replacement for embattled minister and St Elizabeth North Western Member of Parliament J.C. Hutchinson. That idea has been put to bed.
Earlier this month, Hutchinson was forced to apologise for “errors of judgement in relation to land transactions involving 2,400 acres of state-owned lands at the Holland Estate” located in his constituency, and was stripped of his ministerial post and reassigned to the Office of the Prime Minister.
The property was being managed by an enterprise in which Hutchinson’s partner, Lola Marshall-Williams, was a director and shareholder. Hutchinson had also reportedly suggested that the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) Holdings give the property to the enterprise, Holland Producers Limited. Marshall-Williams reportedly resigned after The Sunday Gleaner brought the matter to public attention.
Scott says that while the Holland Estate saga has been embarrassing for the Holness administration, he does not expect Hutchinson, a JLP deputy leader, to be replaced.
“The prime minister would not be comfortable at this time, because it could be a tricky political situation,” Scott told The Sunday Gleaner.
“The action of the senior politician would not make the PM happy, hence the drastic action to remove the minister from the post,” Scott said, “but he is a winning MP, … so removing him would be a big decision.”
“What he has done is a violation of the collective responsibility as a member of the Cabinet,” attorney-at-law and political commentator Linton Gordon weighed in. “I don’t think he should be returned to any ministerial role, but as the member of parliament, that is a different matter altogether.”
Hutchinson, who first entered representational politics in the 1980 general election and who has held that seat since 1997, still commands strong support in his constituency.
“J.C. not going anywhere. He is a good MP,” Lacovia resident Fiona Davis told The Sunday Gleaner. “J.C. will decide when he will go and he should get the privilege to choose his replacement.”