BUSINESSMAN and potential People’s National Party (PNP) candidate for St Thomas West, Leonard Green, says he wants the former minister of energy and mining to re-examine his future in politics, with a view to leaving that constituency and not competing in the next general election, expected by 2012.

Often confused for another PNP official with the same name — attorney Leonard Green — the 44-year-old St Thomas-born native will likely challenge Robertson for the seat, given that the incumbent was forced to exit the Bruce Golding Cabinet in May after it came to light the United States had withdrawn his visitor’s visa and was investigating him.

Green admits that he has gained politically from the recent setbacks that have derailed incumbent Member of Parliament for the seat, James Robertson, arguing that his own popularity has risen and Robertson’s has fallen among constituents.

“I am sure that I would have benefitted in terms of political mileage, a measure of which I cannot tell you, but it would be more disaffection by his (Robertson’s) own people,” Green told the Sunday Observer in an interview.

“That disaffection has redounded to my benefit.”

Green, who is involved in the petroleum business, trucking and heavy equipment, agriculture and agro-industry, said that constituents of St Thomas West were let down by Robertson.

“The PNP has always maintained that he was not right for the constituency. The constituents are very disappointed. They had high hopes for what he had come and promised in terms of development. Of the vision that he had expressed, nothing has materialised.

“The people are saying that it is going to be very difficult for him at this point, having served for nearly two full terms, to come and make any further promises to them. They have lost faith in him,” Green said.

Green, who operates gas stations and regards himself as the second largest cocoa and coconut farmer in St Thomas, is adamant that Robertson’s troubles should be enough to prevent the JLP deputy leader from staying in elective politics, at least in St Thomas.

“I speak in the context that I don’t know who my opponent will be in the next election. However, it would be a travesty, considering the state of affairs that exist there in terms of the incumbent, if he (Robertson) were to go forward as a candidate.

“I would consider it an affront to the people of western St Thomas. I think he should withdraw his candidacy. But for whoever is coming, my wish for the people of St Thomas is good leadership. I was born and raised there. That legacy I can’t change. Let us face the constituency on a platform of truth, integrity, and be guided by a philosophy of development and empowerment of the people, and let St Thomas be relieved of the many years of stagnation and underdevelopment,” Green said.

Green, who in 2000, at age 33, became the youngest president of the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers’ Association in the organisation’s history, reckons that St Thomas West needs a complete overhaul if the parish is to reach greater heights.

“It needs a complete social infrastructure. The employment situation is chronic, the physical infrastructure is deplorable, the social infrastructure is non-existent. We have not capitalised on the resources of the constituency by and large, and so the parish lags behind in terms of development.

“If we have the physical infrastructure put in place, like roads and so, and do not have the employment opportunities, then development would be thwarted again. So it needs a complete social re-engineering. The physical infrastructure is affecting the level of investment in the parish now,” he said.

A graduate of Yallahs High and Kingston Technical High School, who later pursued mechanical engineering studies at the then-College of Arts, Science & Technology, Green is hopeful that his vision for a better parish will be supported given his roots there and his success in business.

Green is, however, extremely concerned that his family members have received threats on their lives, and that his family house in St Thomas was raided by gunmen recently.

Seven audits of his companies in two months, pushed by higher forces, he believes, also forced him at one stage to reconsider his own future in politics.

Nevertheless, Green continues to run his campaign, financed by resources from his own companies, citing personal challenges by constituents as the main source of financial requests.

“People are actually seeking help for just survival… for food, etc. Their revenues have dried up. Some of them have become almost hopeless. I have been getting a lot of requests for bereavement matters. It is amazing the number of persons who are not able to bury their dead nowadays. I have had situations where people have had their dead for months and cannot bury them, so that’s one of the significant areas of demand.

“In going forward, I have identified five pillars on which we need to rebuild the constituency — mining (in the area of aggregates), agriculture and agro-processing, eco-heritage tourism, music, sports & culture, and human resources development, particularly training.

“With unemployment so high in the constituency, there is a tremendous opportunity to develop human capital and export that labour to address unemployment,” he said.

Insisting that he was not entering politics for financial gain, Green said that his success will be measured by his ability to connect with the people.

“I need to be on the ground with the people, not in a deceptive way to give them the impression that they will get all sorts of things later on, but so that they can sense my sincerity, that they can have an understanding of the issues that affect them.

“Part of the problem is that the people have lost faith in the process and so many of them do not trust politicians anymore. There is a growing cohort of people who just look at immediate benefits… what they can get now, because they don’t trust your word beyond that.

“So being on the ground and demonstrating an understanding of the issues and a sincerity to your own words can help. The key is for me to be there with them so that they can have enough by the time elections comes up to judge my performance on,” he said.

Singling out PNP vice-president and MP for St Thomas East Dr Fenton Ferguson as the political colleague who supports him unconditionally and fully, Green also had high praise for the party’s secretariat, but found one fault in the PNP’s preparation for the general election.

“The secretariat has been generally accessible, but I would love to see, though, from a structured standpoint, the party being a bit more organised in terms of management of candidates and constituencies.

“That management should speak to performance evaluation, a centralisation of policies, moving back to core policies and ensuring that these are guiding the strategies out there. From that angle, some more needs to be done,” he said.