Thomas: I want to build a model municipality
Re-elected Portmore mayor looks forward to opening new council building after broadsiding Edwards
Published:Wednesday | February 28, 2024 | 12:09 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
Returned Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas is looking forward to continuing his leadership of the municipality by first opening the modern state-of-the-art building to house the Portmore Municipal Corporation after brushing aside a challenge from Markland Edwards on Monday.
The preliminary count showed the People’s National Party’s Thomas polling 14,921 votes to crush the Jamaica Labour Party’s Edwards, who got 10,095 votes.
Thomas, who broke ground for the construction of the $190-million building on July 27, 2018, said immediately after he has been sworn in, he will officially open the building, which has been widely dubbed as ‘Portmore’s White House’.
With the fresh taste of victory again in his mouth, he says he stands ready to continue his development projects in Portmore.
“I want to build a model municipality so that people all over the world will want to come to Portmore and we can enjoy Portmore going forward. That is my aim and aspiration for this municipality and I look forward to inviting the Portmore residents to the official opening of the new municipal building that will be named after former Mayor George Lee,” Thomas told The Gleaner on Monday night.
“Going forward, I want to work with everybody. After the victory, everybody can count on me that I am going to remain the mayor for the entire city of the Portmore municipality, and any supporter from the JLP or the independent side, my arms are open wide and ready to work with them,” he added.
Thomas, who previously acted as mayor for three years before he earned his stripes, was voted into office in the November 2016 local government elections.
After clashing with Edwards weeks ago at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum, he is now happy that his confidence in the opposition party sweeping of the municipality’s divisions was not misplaced.
“I feel happy. I was very confident after they named Markland to run against me. ... I don’t think my opponent realise that the people of Portmore don’t take certain things for granted, and the Jamaica Labour Party want to gain control over Portmore because of certain things that they want to do, and feel like they can just brainwash people in Portmore, and it cannot work in Portmore,” Thomas told The Gleaner.
On Monday, Thomas also offered condolences to the family of Lamar Grey, the 15-year-old boy who fell to his death from a bus during a PNP motorcade on February 19.
Portmore, the largest community in the English-speaking Caribbean, is the home to just under 200,000 residents.
Data from the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (EOJ) indicated that 113,025 residents were eligible to vote in the local government elections. That figure represents an increase of almost 20,000 newly registered voters.