BLACK RIVER, St Elizabeth

General Secretary of the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) Donald Buchanan said his party will go one better than it did in parliamentary elections in 2002 and “sweep” St Elizabeth in elections, which, under the Constitution, must be held before November.

“All four seats in St Elizabeth belong to the People’s National Party,” Buchanan told the PNP’s South-West St Elizabeth Black River Divisional Conference at the Lower Works Community and Family Centre in New Town, Black River on Saturday.

In the 2002 elections, the PNP took the parish 3-1. Buchanan, who is the outgoing member of parliament for SW St Elizabeth, in line with his decision to retire from representational politics come the next elections, said that in addition to retaining North-East, South-West and South-East St Elizabeth, the PNP was also poised to take North-West, which is currently held by the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) veteran JC Hutchinson.

Buchanan said the entry earlier this year of Ann-Marie Warburton as PNP candidate for North-West St Elizabeth had brought new energy to the party’s organisation in that constituency to such an extent that “nobody can find JC again”.

Warburton, a teacher, replaced businessman Lloyd Myrie who withdrew his candidacy just days before being arrested on a carnal abuse charge.

Buchanan told a room full of mostly party workers at the divisional meeting that “we were struggling a little bit in north-west… (but) one thing about the PNP, we have quality people.”

Warburton, he claimed, commanded “great public appeal” as well as “the love and respect of the people in the constituency” and “North-West is. going to return to the PNP again.”

Against the backdrop of a recent poll showing the PNP’s Reverend Stanley Redwood trailing the JLP’s Christopher Tufton in South-West St Elizabeth by a considerable margin, Buchanan said he was not worried.

Polls had similarly shown him (Buchanan) losing the seat – traditionally considered a marginal seat – in 2002, only for him to confound the so-called experts on election day because of the PNP’s superior organisation, he said.

“There is no political organisation that can equal the PNP constituency organisation of South-West St Elizabeth, and when you have quality organisation, quality leadership. and a quality candidate (Redwood), nothing can turn you back.” said Buchanan.

Redwood, who lost to Hutchinson in North-West by a relatively narrow 247 votes five years ago echoed Buchanan’s confidence, claiming that “polls don’t win elections, it is votes that win elections, organisation that win elections, quality party workers that win elections.”

And guest speaker at the function, vice-president of the PNP and Junior Minister for Water Fenton Ferguson said that while polls could not be ignored, they are no more than a “snapshot. at a particular point in time”.

The key factor, said Ferguson was to “organise, organise, organise” not just in South-West St Elizabeth, but throughout Jamaica to ensure a fifth term for the PNP and “her own mandate” for Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

Ferguson, Redwood, Kern Spencer, the candidate for NE St Elizabeth and Luther Buchanan, candidate for Eastern Westmoreland and a number of other speakers, including sitting councillor for the Black River Division, Kern Smalling, hailed Danny Buchanan for what they said was his “high quality service” to South-West St Elizabeth dating back to the 1970s.

Buchanan, who first won the seat for the PNP in 1976, has held it unbroken since the PNP returned to political power in 1989 following a nine-year break. Both Ferguson and Buchanan said among the latter’s greatest achievements was the provision of water to needy communities – with the latest being the Pedro Plains Irrigation Scheme which is due to be commissioned within weeks.

Buchanan expressed pride that as member of parliament, he has been able to secure the government’s purchase of the Galleon Beach property, west of Black River, which has been occupied by squatters for years. The government’s purchase of the land meant a major step had been taken towards formalising tenure for those who live there, he said.

The presence of Redwood’s predecessor Anthony ‘Tern’ Ewen at last Saturday’s divisional meeting was hailed by speakers as a further sign that the party’s constituency organisation was united. Redwood reported that Ewen was working “on the ground” to ensure “victory”. Ewen was replaced by Redwood late last year as part of a controversial all-island review of candidates by the PNP.