SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland – Supporters of the five People’s National Party candidates seeking Karl Blythe’s Central Westmoreland seat Thursday night heckled and jeered each other in what was promoted as a “discussion forum” to hear the plans of aspirants for the constituency.

Moderator Lloyd B Smith, newspaper publisher and columnist, had his hands full, as despite warning that there should be no heckling and making of insulting remarks, he had a hard time keeping the comrades under control

during the forum held at Independence Park.

The five candidates:

. Dr Victor Watt, head of the Engineering Department at the University of Technology;

. Leonard Green, attorney-at-law;

. Carey Wallace, businessman;

. Paul Wilson, also a businessman; and

. Paul Buchanan, a consultant with the Ministry of National Security, also faced tough questions from the approximately 300 party supporters who turned out to hear their plans for the constituency.

Dr Blythe, a former Cabinet minister and a vice-president of the PNP, decided to pull out of representational politics after he was overlooked for a post in the administration of Portia Simpson Miller in April this year.

Thursday night, as the aspirants for the seat announced what they would implement, if chosen by the PNP and later elected to the House of Representatives, there were shouts of “weh di money deh”, and “that a foolishness” from noisy supporters.

At intervals Buchanan enjoyed the loudest cheers as his proposed $10-billion bond to convert sugar cane to electricity at the Frome Sugar Estate resonated with the crowd.

“We will go to government and get support where two per cent of the gross revenue of the Frome businesses in the area would be reinvested in the community,” Buchanan said to loud cheers. But as he spoke, there was a shout from the back of the room: “Tell dem weh di money a come from”.

Among issued raised by the moderator and to which all five candidates were given equal time to respond were plans for drain-cleaning with government’s limited resources, crime reduction and job creation.

Candidates and supporters alike reacted passionately to claims that some candidates were buying votes for as much as $5,000, and that Russell Hammond, the Jamaica Labour Party caretaker, was a formidable man to beat.

“I am a teacher, I can’t buy votes,” was Watt’s response to the rumours of vote-buying, while Green responded, “I would say he is a popular, not formidable candidate”, to the question that Hammond was hard to beat.

Towards the end of the meeting, Wallace, the managing director of Jungle Nightclub, came in for some ridicule as supporters from Green’s camp branded him a labourite and claimed that he wouldn’t win.

“We no want no labourite,” shouted one of Green’s supporters as Wallace started his closing remarks.

Others shouted “education can’t free” as Wallace outlined how he would use free education, funded by Jamaicans living abroad, to empower persons living in the constituency.

In response to the claim of being a labourite (supporter of the Jamaica Labour Party), Wallace said he joined the PNP in 2002 and was a dedicated comrade. “It’s a classic case of the opponent clutching at straws,” he told the Observer after the meeting. “On Sunday, good sense will prevail, it’s not politics but development,” he added.

The forum, which had as its theme “THINK”, was organised by Dawn Mullings, founder of Hope Events Planning. The event, she said, achieved its purpose. “People can now, if they choose, make informed decisions,” Mullings said.