Golding: It’s a preliminary general election

Flames of orange lit the mid-morning sky from Collie Smith Drive in St Andrew South to the nomination centre on Lyndhurst Road, with People’s National Party (PNP) President Mark Golding leading a throng of supporters and their two candidates for the February 26 local government elections (LGE).

Golding walked the entire journey, accompanied by a group of what were initially hundreds of supporters that became larger and larger every 50 metres along the road named after the late, talented Jamaica and West Indian cricketer Collie Smith.

Golding, the opposition leader, said the time has not only come for the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), but that their time was up.

“The people are telling the JLP that their time is up. We in the People’s National Party (PNP) have said ‘time come’, but the people have told the Government that time is up,” Golding said yesterday as he stopped to talk with Comrades on Collie Smith Drive, in his constituency, the bastion of the PNP support in the Corporate Area. It was a mid-morning dance party in the constituency as amid the large show of support, it was hard to find someone not wearing anything orange.

Golding said he was pleased to accompany Sarah Marshall, the party’s candidate for the Trench Town division, and Louise Newland for the Admiral Town division. A massive banner bearing an image of Newland was flown among the crowd as well as T-shirts bearing the likenesses of the two Comrades.

A handful of JLP supporters watched from Rema as the crowd walked briskly towards Lyndhurst Road and at one point were engaged in political banter during the process.

“A money dem a dweet fah. We a dweet fi di love,” said one woman over and over again. Vuvuzelas drowned out the charges from the Labourites.

Golding said he was happy that nomination day for the long-delayed polls was finally here.

“We have been waiting on this for a few years now. The Government has been running from it, but they couldn’t run anymore. Time catch up with them, and time come,” Golding told journalists and supporters following the completion of nomination.

“The whole Jamaica is treating this like a general election. It’s like a preliminary general. The excitement is at a different level to what LGE normally encounter. The people are dying to send a signal to this Government that they want to get rid of them … ,” Golding stated.

He said the Government has broken the trust with the people and that the people want to send them a message.

Newland said there was need for greater focus on the people at the local level, and the prime minister should know that “nobody can sleep with their doors open”, a reference to Holness’ famous election promise to make the nation safer for its people if they voted for the JLP.

Louise White, who said she votes in the Admiral Town division, declared that the day’s energy and crowd signified an excellent show of support for the party.

“Today was just nomination day. February 26 is the ... elections. If everybody go out and vote like this on February 26, we take not just KSAMC (Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation) but we take every council, and dat’s what we need to do,” she said.

JLP on solid ground - McKenzie

In the meantime, Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie, the member of parliament for Kingston Western, addressing JLP supporters following the nomination exercise outside of the Denham Town High School, urged them to not be complacent.

Councillors Donovan Samuels and Jermaine Hyatt, for the Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town’s divisions, respectively, were nominated.

“We want Denham Town and Tivoli to turn out in your numbers on election day and show the might and power of the people of West Kingston for the JLP. This election will show that West Kingston is the dominant constituency in Jamaica. We are not going to be complacent. We have had a significant number of new voters, 1,000 new voters added to both divisions, and the good thing about it, 60 per cent of that is young people and that is a good sign,” McKenzie said.

Asked what it would take for the PNP to win a division in the constituency, he said, “I don’t [think] there is a word that I can find.”

McKenzie said electors still wanted to see their representatives and they would be meeting and greeting constituents between now and the election day.

Portia’s bastion

At the constituency office of St Andrew South West MP Angela Brown Burke, it was another dance party as supporters displayed the latest moves to blaring dancehall music coming from a music set on the ground.

Brown Burke accompanied the two incumbents, Karl Blake and Eugene Kelly, of the Whitfield Town and Greenwich Town divisions, respectively.

Devon Jackson has replaced Audrey Smith Facey, who has retired as councillor for the Payne Land division. She said it would be a stretch for the JLP to win even one division in the constituency, while Jackson and Blake said it would take an earthquake. Kelly said they were in politics for the love of country, love for the PNP and for Mama P, the moniker attached to former MP and Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

Brown Burke thanked Smith Facey for her support and reminded the Comrades that Simpson Miller paved the way for their success in the constituency. The three will be up against the father-daughter duo of Hugh Walker King and his daughter, Shannon. The father said he has been campaigning since 1989 and received 91 votes in the 2016 elections. Shannon said she was following her father’s footstep into service. Neither considered themselves David in a race against Goliath.

For Maureen Lorne, in Greenwich Town, she told The Gleaner that she was tired of the violence that affects women and children.

In Kingston Central, represented by the JLP’s Donovan Williams, the day’s activities were completed without incident. The constituency has two divisions in Allman Town and Rae Town. One is represented by the JLP and the other by the PNP. Rosalie Hamilton, who represents the Rae Town division, said she was asking Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson to provide extra security on election day as a pattern of violence has been seen for both local and general elections, which leads to gun violence and which causes persons to not come out and vote.

“It went smoothly, and we have a lot of support and we can’t wait until the 26th. The people have told me they have seen a lot of work and infrastructure development, and they want it to continue,” Williams said.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com