FALMOUTH, Trelawny

It’s going to be tricky.

Already the three sitting councillors who hope to contest the upcoming local government elections on behalf of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) are clamming up in the face of the likelihood that defeated JLP candidate for North Trelawny, Dennis Meadows, will contest one of the five parish council divisions in the constituency.

Meadows did not say which of the divisions he is likely to contest in the upcoming local government polls, but it is hardly likely that he would want to run in the Falmouth or the Martha Brae divisions, both of which were won by the PNP in the 2003 local government polls.

However, the situation seems clear to most political pundits in the west.

“If he (Meadows) decides to contest a local government seat he would undoubtedly want to run on a safe seat for the JLP, and so he would have to run in the Duncans Division, the Wakefield Division or even the Sherwood, Content Division,” a JLP source explained.

These three parish council divisions – considered safe JLP seats – are currently being held by Fernandez Smith, mayor of Falmouth Jonathan Bartley, and veteran politician Errol White respectively.

All three appeared reluctant to discuss the issue with the OBSERVER WEST.

“I don’t expect a challenge for my seat,” said veteran politician Errol White, who has been councillor for the Duncans Division since 1994.

At the same time, he said that he would “at no time” put his party into disrepute.

Smith, a first-time councillor, said that he did believe that his seat was under “consideration”, and expressed confidence that he would be re-elected to “serve the people” of the division in the upcoming polls.

Meanwhile, Bartley, who won the Wakefield division on his first outing in the 2003 elections, said he was not aware of any of the sitting councillors being asked to make way for anybody.

However, Meadows, who lost the battle for the North Trelawny parliamentary seat to the People’s National Party’s (PNP’s) incumbent, Dr Patrick Harris, by more than 1,500 votes in the recent general elections, said he was looking at the option of contesting a local government seat with a view to building a base from which to enhance his political presence in the constituency.

Harris polled 10,164 votes, president of the Jamaica Alliance Movement (JAM) Ras Astor Black got 65, while 8,642 ballots were cast in favour of Meadows.

His loss seemingly did not surprise many political observers, but Harris’ margin of victory sent shockwaves through the JLP’s camp on election night.

“I believe that he (Meadows) would have lost because this is really a PNP seat, but I did not know that he would lose by so much,” said a local political observer, who did not want to be named.

Last week, Meadows contended that in spite of the loss in the recent national polls, he intends to “stick with the people of North Trelawny” who he said have demonstrated love toward him.

“They have demonstrated pure love for me and because of that, I am motivated to stick with them right back to the next election,” he said. “I have been getting numerous calls, text messages… literally hundreds per day begging, imploring me to remain their representative,” he said.

Nevertheless, Meadows said he would be willing to serve in whatever way the party and the government see fit.

“I will make myself available to the government and whatever ways they want to fit me in… I am willing. I am a political animal, and I belong to the people, and as such whatever option I chose is one that must involve the people,” he stressed.