Former cricketer Dixeth Palmer takes on Wykeham McNeill
GRANGE HILL, Westmoreland — He is up against veteran politician Dr Wykeham McNeill, the minister of tourism and entertainment, but former Jamaica cricketer Dixeth Palmer is confident of securing victory for the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in the constituency of Westmoreland Western in the next general election.
The seat was last won by the JLP in 1983 when Buxton Cooke defeated independent candidate William Lindsay by 1,895 votes, during the parliamentary elections that were boycotted by the then Opposition People’s National Party (PNP).
In the turbulent October 1980 general election, Cooke had beaten the PNP’s Carmen McGregor by 2,411 votes.
Since the 1989 General Elections, however, the PNP has convincingly won the seat — which has been represented by Dr McNeill from 2007 — in all of the six parliamentary polls.
In the last general election, Dr McNeill trounced the JLP’s Carey Wallace by 3,680 votes during the polls which saw only 47.7 per cent of the 29,879 electors casting ballots.
The 46-year-old Palmer, who opened batting for the national cricket team between 1990 and 1994, believes that constituents will register their protest against what he described as the wanton neglect of the constituency in the next parliamentary election.
Palmer, who also played cricket for Gloucestershire in England and Cosmos Cricket Club in the New York Metropolitan Cricket league, and currently plays for Bleachers in the Masters League in Queens, New York, argues that his party has not over the years provided the requisite resources needed to end the PNP’s dominance of Westmoreland Western.
“This is not really a PNP constituency; it’s just that the JLP has done little or no investment in the constituency, so I am putting in the work,” said Palmer, who operates a small tour company based in the resort town of Negril.
Arguing that “the timing is right for a change” in the political leadership of the constituency, Palmer, a former member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, said he is encouraged by the response of the constituents to his candidacy.
In fact, Palmer, who said he was born and raised in the Little London area of the constituency, told the Jamaica Observer that he was urged to enter representational politics by residents who are convinced that he would provide better representation for them.
“Being a local boy, and after identifying the lack of representation in the constituency by the members of parliament over the years, the residents and myself, who share the same concerns about the lack of representation, decided that one of our own should go forward to represent the area,” Palmer explained.
He cited the poor roads conditions, especially in the Old Hope, Little London, More Land and Paul Island communities; lack of water; crime and violence and lack of employment opportunities as some of the issues impacting negatively on the constituency.
He stressed that if elected, education, especially at the early childhood level, would be top on his priority list.
“Education is also a big issue. One of the things that is really needed to turn around the communities or society at large is to start at the early childhood level of our education system, in terms of how we foster and how we educate our young ones. There are a lot of homes that cannot facilitate their young ones with the basic necessities, and I am always of the view that schools should be equipped to provide some of the basic things that are missing from the homes,” he argued.
Palmer, who has donated sporting gear and has provided a number of schools in the constituency with building materials, prior “to even consider enter representational politics”, also bemoaned the lack of recreational facilities in the constituency.
“I am always of the view that every community should have a proper recreational facility. But when you look at the constituency, almost 99 per cent of the communities don’t have a proper recreational area where people can come out and socialise or exercise, which basically would enhance a more healthier lifestyle and less burden on our health system, and right now we don’t have that, and I believe recreational facilities are critical to community development,” said Palmer.
And arguing that the favourability rating of Dr McNeill in the constituency is at its lowest, the JLP standard-bearer argued that the sitting MP’s victory in the last election was not as a result of his performance in the constituency, but was because “the people wanted Portia” (Simpson Miller, the PNP’s president).
“She (Simpson Miller) has not done anything exceptional to energise or to maintain the momentum that brought people out to the polls in the last general election, so with Mr McNeill having a poor favourability rating and with Mrs Simpson Miller not doing anything exceptional since the last time, my strategy is to get all Labourites out to vote. And with my connections through sports, schools, family, friends, and my current profession, I know that I will be getting a lot of personal votes and that I can take home the seat,” said a confident Palmer.
“I have been on the ground for the past two months … so when I look at the situation, I can tell you straight up that it will not be a walkover victory for Mr McNeil. There are plenty people out there who did not vote the last time, who voted for the PNP, [including] my friends, who have all said that they are going to support me, so to be honest I can’t see Mr McNeill beating me in a fair election.”
The constituency of Westmoreland Western, which comprises five parish council divisions, all represented by the PNP, encompasses sections of the resort town of Negril, Grange Hill, Little London, Old Hope, Sheffield, Broughton, Little Bay, Delveland, Springfield, and Fullersfield, among others.