FALMOUTH, Trelawny — LABOURITES in Trelawny Northern say they were not surprised last week when Ernest Smith, the party’s standard-bearer in the constituency, announced that hewas walking away from the seat.

According to the JLP supporters, several of whom are members of the Trelawny Northern JLP executive, the former South West St Ann Member of Parliament was not visible in the constituency.

“I live in the Clark’s Town area of the constituency and from Mr Smith became the caretaker, I have never seen him doing any political work in the area,” one JLP supporter who gave his name as Dave, told the Jamaica Observer West yesterday.

“Mr Smith might be a good lawyer, but he is certainly not a good politician,” he added.

The prominent attorney who served as Member of Parliament for South West St Ann from 2002 to 2011 before losing to the People’s National Party’s (PNP’s) Keith Walford in 2011, handed in his resignation letter to the JLP hierarchy last weekend.

“My decision is as a result of a conflict of interest that has been revealed. Unfortunately, this conflict cannot be resolved in the constituency and in the interest of victory for the Jamaica Labour Party, I am resigning as candidate to ensure that the party’s unity is not fractured,” the letter stated.

Smith was installed as the JLP representative in the constituency last year June, after he defeated consultant engineer, Dwight Lewis, in a selection exercise at the Hague primary school in Trelawny.

But since then, many Labourites, several of whom say they supported Smith during the selection exercise, expressed disappointment at the caretaker’s performance in the constituency, and called on the leadership of the party to have him replaced.

Smith, however, had maintained that he was working assiduously in the constituency.

“I am working hard. I have being doing house-to-house in Stonebrook, Falmouth Gardens, Florence Hall…,” Smith told the Observer West earlier this year, when asked about his stewardship of the constituency, since he was selected.

JLP Deputy Leader in charge of Area Council Four, JC Hutchinson, told the Observer West following Smith’s resignation that “Mr Smith felt that he was working, but the majority of persons felt that he wasn’t really on the ground, and I think that was the main problem that was there.”

“…And based on that, Mr Smith felt that he couldn’t go any further because the majority of persons were saying that he was not working,” added Hutchinson, a veteran politician, as he sought to explain Smith’s departure.

Hutchinson said on many occasions he had told Smith that the general view amongst party supporters was that he was not doing much political work.

“I told him in many meetings that the people were saying that he is not working, and I said to him in front of his face at several meetings “pull up yuh socks, get on the ground so that the people can feel that you are working with them, especially the workers,” said Hutchinson.

He noted that Smith in his resignation letter had urged the party to consider former JLP candidate for Trelawny Northern Dennis Meadows and councillor for the Wakefield Division Jonathan Bartley, as his replacement.

Yesterday, Meadows, a former senator, who lost the parliamentary seat in the 2007 and 2011 general elections, said he has been asked by the party to consider a return to the constituency.

“I have been asked by the party and urged by the people of Trelawny and well-wishers to consider a return to the constituency, which I am giving due consideration,” said Meadows, who is also the co-convenor for the civic lobby group Citizens Action for Principle and Integrity (CAPI).

Added Meadows: “I don’t consider myself a party person, although I support the JLP, I am more a people person and will go against the grain of my party in defence of the interest of the people anytime it warrants it. Mind you, that doesn’t get you far into politics, as one is required to be blindly loyal to one’s party’s interest. I’m not enslaved by politics, but I’m a slave to my conscience and my sense of what is right for Jamaica.”

And Bartley yesterday told the Observer West that he has made himself available to the party for selection.

“I will abide by any decision the party makes,” added Bartley, who served as Mayor of Falmouth from 2002-2007. The former mayor, who has been the sitting councillor for the Wakefield Division in Trelawny Northern since 2002, said he too has been asked by a number of Labourites in the constituency to represent them.

Considered a safe People’s National Party (PNP) seat, the Opposition JLP last held the constituency of Trelawny Northern between 1980 and 1989.

Since then, the party has lost all of the five elections that have been contested in the constituency.

Hutchinson said the hierarchy of the party intends to find a replacement for Smith by the end of next week, after a series of consultations in the constituency.