MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Comrades and Labourites alike will readily salute Dean Peart for his success at winning elections.

After all, he emulated his late father Ernest Peart by winning the North West Manchester seat for the People’s National Party (PNP) five times on the trot, before retiring in the lead-up to the December 2011 elections.

A former mayor of Mandeville, Peart is also a former Cabinet minister, leading at various times the ministries of labour, environment and lands, and local government.

But while his record at the polls and as Cabinet minister came readily to the lips at a recent fund-raising dinner in his honour, it was Peart’s reputed dedication to constituents and the Jamaican people, integrity, commitment to hard work, and insistence on honest, straight talk in “plain patois” which took pride of place.

“…working with someone like him (Peart) makes me feel proud to be a Jamaican,” declared Mikael Phillips, who took over as member of parliament for NW Manchester following the 2011 elections.

Dr Omar Davies, current minister of transportation and works and a former Cabinet colleague of Peart, told those at the $5,000-a-plate affair at Golf View Hotel that Peart was second to none as a political representative.

“I do not know of any member of parliament who put as much into his constituency as Deanie,” said Davies, who was finance minister under PNP administrations led by PJ Patterson and Portia Simpson Miller.

Mikael’s father, current Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips, joined others in hailing Peart for his “passion” in setting up educational opportunities for his constituents.

In line with Peart’s passion, the proceeds of the fund-raiser will go towards a Dean Alexander Peart Scholarship Fund for tertiary and high school students in NW Manchester, organisers say.

That emphasis on youth and education triggered plenty of laughter at the fund-raiser as speakers joked that “Deanie couldn’t see an open lot without building on it”. Usually, they said, the building would turn out to be a community centre or a basic school.

“We have 13 community centres in North West Manchester,” boasted Mikael Phillips. “Deanie did not only build them… but each one is equipped with bar, kitchen, stove, and fridge and it had to be tiled, especially the bathrooms, because Deanie believed that if he is going to hand it to his constituents it must be fitting for even himself to use…,” he said.

Mikael Phillips laughingly declared that Peart supervised the building of so many basic schools in North West Manchester that “we can’t find any children to go to some of them”.

Peart’s integrity came in for high praise. The younger Phillips claimed that “when you know Dean Peart well enough, you know that if he does not trust you, you can’t come near him”, and the elder Philips said Peart would “have nothing to do with people he believes to be corrupt or dishonest…”

“I am blessed to have been associated with Dean Peart, a good, loyal Jamaican, a great Comrade, a PNP, a big time PNP, and most of all, a great human being,” said Peter Phillips.

John Junor, former MP for Central Manchester and another former Cabinet colleague of Peart, hailed the latter for his “unique” style, ability to stay “close to the ground” in political representation and for his honesty.

“He (Peart) would shoot straight from the hip, telling it like it is without incurring wrath or rancour because people know he speaks truth,” said Junor.

Michael Peart, Dean’s older sibling by just a year, said that in NW Manchester his brother had made a mark for the ages.

“As a representative of the people, he has left a legacy that will be very difficult for any other representative to replicate,” said Michael Peart, who is member of parliament for South Manchester and speaker of the House of Representatives.

He also lauded his brother’s commitment to the PNP regardless of the ideological debate and divisions within that organisation.

“He is a hard-working man dedicated to the People’s National Party, not affected by the fringes, or by left-wing or right-wing. He is what you would call a rock-stone PNP man,” Michael Peart told the Jamaica Observer Central.

Renowned for his use of the vernacular, Dean Peart stayed true to form as he said “thanks” at the appreciation dinner. He also gave a brief outline of his reasons for walking away from representational politics.

Growing up as sons of Ernest Peart, it was a natural evolution to representational politics for himself and Michael, he told his audience, which included his 90-year-old mother, Dorothy; wife, Vynette; family members, several former Cabinet colleagues, Comrades and close friends.

But after 22 years as MP, Peart said he felt the need to spend more time with his wife and his last son Khari, now 17 years old, something he had not been able to do for his older children. “When all is said and done, the only thing you have is family,” he said. Health issues had also been a consideration, Peart added.

Yet he hadn’t given up volunteer work for community and country and would continue to serve as best he could, he said. Currently, Peart serves two committees dealing with the Government’s courthouse building programme and disaster reduction.

Peart urged the young to embrace politics as a way to do their duty for country and people.

“Some of us feel seh the politics too dirty and too corrupt and all that, but if we don’t clean it up, how it a go clean up?” he asked.

1084 – Dean Peart (centre) is embraced by a good friend and comrade, Foreign Affairs Minister AJ Nicholson, at the appreciation dinner. At right is Nicholson’s wife Yvonne.

1118 – Dean Peart says thanks at the appreciation dinner.

1146 Dean Peart sings the People’s National Party anthem Jamaica Arise, also called The Trumpet, at the appreciation dinner.

1147 Dean Peart (centre) with Mikael Phillips (left) and brother Michael Peart.

Dean Peart (right) with wife Vynette and Dr Omar Davies at an appreciation dinner in Mandeville recently.