DWAYNE Francois St Michael Vaz, going forward, might well be the template for how to make a Jamaican politician, thanks largely to the late Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke.

Vaz, unlike many of the country’s politicians, was not predisposed to representing the People’s National Party (PNP), as his parents, Allan and Yvonne Vaz, were not party activists who inculcated in him the religiosity which often characterises party support here.

In fact, the idea of representational politics did not occur to him, the young politician says, until after he had immersed himself in community work and found himself powerfully drawn to the people.

Dwayne Vaz, at age 33, joined the ranks of the young politicians in parliament after winning Clarke’s Central Westmoreland seat, swept into power by strong support from the youth and female vote in last December’s by-election. But the campaign to succeed his mentor had begun with unexpected drama and near failure that would test every ounce of his resolve.

When Yvonne Vaz brought home her ‘one-son’ — born July 23, 1981 — from the St Joseph’s Hospital in Kingston, no one in the bustling district of Kingswood, Savanna-la-Mar, the Westmoreland capital, could imagine that he would one day be representing them in the nation’s parliament, with prospects of a bright future ahead of him.

First election as vibes master in Nassau

After Randall’s Prep School, Savanna-La-Mar Infant, Savanna-La-Mar Primary and Manning’s School, Vaz entered the University of the West Indies (UWI) in 1999 to pursue a BSc in hotel management. At the time that called for one year at Mona, St Andrew, and two years in Nassau, The Bahamas. In Nassau he won his first election as activities and entertainment co-ordinator, the “vibz master” for the student body.

“Although we were in The Bahamas, the majority of the more than 100 students there were Jamaicans,” he recalls in an interview with the Jamaica Observer. “I really liked the idea that they thought I was the man to bring fun and good times to the campus. I made some good friends there.”

Those good friends and acquaintances included Kevin Anderson who is now his business partner, Jabulani Movhair from Trinidad and Tobago, and Damion Crawford who is Jamaica’s current minister of state for tourism and entertainment, who was his senior.

Even then, Vaz did not foresee his eventual foray into representational politics. He immersed himself into his two internships — at Sandals Negril and Le Sport, a St Lucian resort. Sandals marked his first work experience.

“That went well. I went through all the departments and got a thorough understanding of the hospitality industry. I also had a very good time at Le Sport. After the two resorts, my leadership skills started to take shape,” Vaz says.

But, internship behind him, Vaz could not find an appropriate job in the tourist industry which was reeling from the effects of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in the United States. It was to the Social Development Commission (SDC) — a logic of fate, perhaps — that he turned for his first job after sitting eight months at home. In April, 2003, aged 22, Vaz turned up at the SDC for the position of community development officer.

“It was in that job that I started to develop a strong love and affinity for community development,” Vaz adds. ” I really loved working with the people and representing them. The idea of representational politics began to emerge at that time.”

A year later, with encouragement from friends, he put his foot on the first rung of the political ladder, by joining the People’s National Party Youth Organisation (PNPYO), youth arm of the ruling party. In short order he became Westmoreland parish representative for the YO. His political work included forming community groups in the constituency. His proudest was the Kingswood Community Group, importantly, the community in which he grew up.

Still, representational politics was not yet in his blood and Vaz started to yearn to work in the private sector. In February 2007 he left the SDC and joined Musson Jamaica in the business development department which he recalls as “mostly a road job” promoting a new brand of cigarette called Green, against established brands such as Craven A and Matterhorn. During his time at Musson, he studied for the Executive MBA at the Jamaica campus of the University of New Orleans and was chosen valedictorian at Graduation, saying it meant a lot to him because “I was one of the youngest in the class”.

Enter Roger Clarke

It was February 2010. Roger Clarke, who had transferred from North East St Elizabeth to Central Westmoreland three years earlier, had been hearing good things about the young man and his work among the people. He was looking for a consultant to manage his MP’s Constituency Development Fund (CDF) as he himself did not have the time and he wanted to see it work. People told him that Vaz would be a good catch.

Vaz, having left Musson, had just started his own business — a small loans agency he called Flex-financing and Consulting Agency, partnering with Allan Gordon, an unemployed high school friend. Allan put in his last pay cheque from his low-paying job in the micro-loan business and Vaz sold his car and invested the money in the venture. They boosted that with a small credit union loan which they used to buy office furniture.

But Vaz could scarcely resist the spin of Roger Clarke who was widely known to have a ‘sweet mouth’. He took the job which gave him responsibility to write up the CDF programme and its various elements and monitor its implementation. Clarke impressed upon him the importance of doing a really good job.

“During that time we developed a very good relationship and soon I was representing him at a number of events in the constituency. From the first day I met him he treated me like his own son. He constantly encouraged me to enter representational politics. He told me I was one of the persons he would like to see take over from him,” he discloses.

But Vaz thought that was somewhere in the distance and he could not foresee the events that would suddenly catapult him into the seat held by the elderly politician…nor the drama to come.

Roger Clarke dies suddenly

It was 2014 and he and his great friend, Kevin Anderson from The Bahamas days had jointly established a new company, Estellar Global Services, a call centre to take advantage of the emerging Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) opportunities. Clarke, 74 years and now the two-time agriculture minister, took ill in August 2014 and was flown to the United States for back surgery. On his way back to Jamaica he suffered a heart attack at the Miami International Airport and died shortly after in a Florida hospital where he was admitted.

Jamaicans were shaken by news of the sudden death of the affable minister, few moreso than Dwayne Vaz: “I was in shock. It really affected me. I mean, I used to go everywhere with him,” Vaz recalls.

After Clarke’s September 13 official funeral, attention was turned to finding a successor as MP for Central Westmoreland. The PNP invited interested persons to apply. Initially, three persons – Michael Erskine, Roger Allen and Vaz – threw their hats in the ring. Vaz emerged as the early favourite among the delegates.

But a party-commissioned poll in the constituency suggested that Erskine would be the likely victor in the by-election, later called for December 1. Vaz said all the applicants decided to go along with the party executive “in the interest of party unity”.

But Dr Karl Blythe, a former vice-president and losing presidential candidate, declaring that the choice of Erskine was ultra vires the PNP constitution, threatened to take the matter to court. At the same time he expressed his interest in running for the seat.

That triggered an intense debate and internal party squabbling. Vaz was caught in the middle, not wanting to be a contributor to the upheaval but spurred on by big delegate support. The party executive decided to reopen the application process and to let the delegates choose the candidate. Vaz hit the ground hard. By now he was a familiar face in every nook and cranny of the constituency, thanks to Roger Clarke.

The People’s Choice

Vaz chose the slogan “The People’s Choice” and worked the fact that he was keenly aware of the needs of the constituency and pledged that the people would continue to see him as frequently as they did before, while he criss-crossed the constituency as Clarke’s right-hand man.

Blythe, sensing that the tide was in favour of the young Vaz, withdrew his candidacy and threw his support behind him. After that it was all over. On December 1, he swept to victory in the by-election, leaving the Jamaica Labour Party’s Faye-Reid Jacobs in his wake 8,720 votes to her 6,268.

“We did not campaign as if it was a safe seat. We know there were more PNP than JLP but that it was not going to be a walkover and we had to work hard to bring them out,” he says.

The Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) used the Central Westmoreland by-election as a pilot to test a plan to generate statistics on the age and gender of electors who cast ballots in future elections, hopefully to reduce voter apathy, said Director of Elections Orrette Fisher.

It turned out that more women voted. Of the 15,091 electors who cast ballots, 8,133 or 53.9 per cent were women, while 6,958 or 46.1 per cent were men. Furthermore, electors between the ages of 36 and 54 made up the largest turnout on election day, with 6,153 or 41 per cent of voters. Voters over 55 accounted for 4,458 or 30 per cent of those who cast ballots, ECJ reported.

Electors, aged 18-25 made up 11 per cent of voters and 18 per cent of electors were between the ages of 25 and 35.

Vaz believes that he was the solid beneficiary of the female and youth vote: “The vibe on the road was that it was refreshing to see someone of my age and from the constituency seeking to represent them. I think that people sensed that I was someone they can talk to and someone who will deal with their problems.

“I learnt a lot from Roger Clarke and put it to good use. I worked closely with my campaign team of Devon Thomas, Milton Miles, Ronald Gordon, Paul Wilson, Bernard Vanreil and Courtney Bahadur,” Vaz boasts. “I also showed a lot of respect to my opponent, Ms Faye-Reid Jacobs.”

He expresses admiration for Party Leader Portia Simpson Miller who gave him great support during the election and says he has a great camaraderie, especially with the young politicians in his party, naming Mikael Phillips, Damion Crawford; Ian Hayle, Hugo Buchanan and Dr Wykeham McNeill among them. Vaz also speaks highly of his parents, his sisters T’ka, Rochelle and Tamika Vaz, and his one-year-old son, Mateo.

On December 11, 2014, Dwayne Vaz took his seat in the Jamaican parliament, proudly wearing his credentials as a young, good-looking, hard-working, people-loving person — a virtual template on how to make a Jamaican politician — and vowing to follow in the large footsteps of his late political godfather, Roger Clarke.