PNP President Mark Golding expects SW Catherine candidates ‘to do well’

It is widely expected that the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) will announce the date for Jamaicans to go to the parochial polls now constitutionally due the end of February this year.

Original scheduled for 2019, local government elections has been postponed several times since, largely due to the global Covid-19 pandemic and other factors outlined by the Andrew Holness-led administration.

In southwest St Catherine the PNP have ratified the candidacies of Dr Kurt Waul, who is the party’s chairman of the constituency, businessman Adrian Samuda, philanthropist Natalie Ho and social activist Obryan Leighton.

The quartet, all natives of the division they are representing, will likely to pose a serious challenge to their JLP incumbents.

And with recent political polls showing the PNP making resurgence, Golding is confident in those leading the charge in this side of the parish.

Speaking to Old Harbour News Thursday after the official opening of the Dennis Anderson-led DA Traders warehouse and distribution hub in Bodles, Golding said:  “We have been working for three years preparing for local government election because they have been due over three year now. So we have been refining and fine tuning. It has been a hard process for candidates to be remaining ready for that period of time. So I take my hat off to them but they have stuck with it and we are expected to do well.

“We are confident man. We’ve some good candidates and I think we’ll improve on where we are now.”

A major talking point on the political hustling on ground is that all four PNP candidates are university graduates and have a history of service in the constituency even before their foray into representational politics.

Such combination of being academically qualified and streetwise at the same time, bodes well for the party, Golding added.

“I am very encouraged by the standard of the candidates that we have. We do have a lot of candidates who are persons from the communities that they are looking to serve; and I think that has tremendous benefits,” said the opposition party leader. “It can’t always be done that way but where it’s possible I think that’s great. And to have people who have reached and completed tertiary education, it brings a certain understanding of the theory of local government with it or capacity to analyse things in that way along with their own local experience, I think it’s a very good mix.”

After being trounced in the 2020 General Elections by Everald Warmington of the JLP, Dr Waul will try to unseat Lloyd ‘Brass’ Grant for the Old Harbour South Division.

Samuda will look to deny Keith Knight a second term as the councillor for Old Harbour North Division, as will Leighton when he takes on Steve Graham for Old Harbour Central.

Ho faces a tough test, as she goes up against Mark O’Connor who is vying for a fourth successive term in office.