WITH a general election expected before year-end, the Observer’s Western Bureau will help you get to know your candidates at this end of the island.

Check this column every Saturday for information about those who are seeking your vote. Who are the candidates and why should you vote for them?

This week, meet the Jamaica Labour Party’s Devon McDaniel.

Name: Devon McDaniel

Date of Birth: July 8, 1972

Constituency: Southern Trelawny

Born in the Warsop area of the constituency, he is seeking to represent, McDaniel is relatively new to the political arena.

Last year he was installed as the JLP caretaker for the area, nearly one year after the death of the JLP’s candidate Alfred Chen.

A past student of the Warsop All-Age School, William Knibb Memorial High School, Excelsior Community College and the College of Arts Science and Technology (now UTech), he worked at the National Commercial Bank before taking up his position as branch manager for Mack D’s Auto Sales and Rentals.

Over the past few months, McDaniel has been actively involved in the formation of several community-based organisations in the area.

Q: Why should people vote for you?

A: “I was born in the constituency where I spent most of my life. As a result of this, I know and understand the needs of the people in the area. I am a man of the soil and I have been through the struggles they are now experiencing.

The people in this farming constituency know that I am committed to the task of helping them to improve their standards of living and to make the area prosperous.

I am ashamed of the level of representation the constituency has received in recent years, and the constituents know that if I was in charge I would have done a better job.”