His name comes up every time a vacancy in a seat anywhere in Jamaica occurs; sometimes even when there is none.

And such a scenario may continue for a while longer, what with the obvious popularity of Senator Damion Crawford, who continues to be courted by supporters of his Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) to put himself forward again in the field of elective politics.

But for now the Bridgeport, St Catherine, resident who is vying to become one of four vice-presidents of the party when it convenes at its annual conference next month, is waiting until that activity is out of the way before deciding which seat to pursue.

“The confidence that Comrades have in me is so extensive,” admitted Haddo, Westmoreland-born Crawford in an one-on-one interview with the Jamaica Observer last week. “One said to me recently that I can win West Kingston, that the youth them down there rate me, and if I walk the market couple times I gone clear — so the level of confidence that they have in me exists in almost every seat. If I should take on a challenge I would try and move (Prime Minister) Andrew Holness, I wouldn’t take on Desmond (sitting Member of Parliament McKenzie)… Desmond is a better person, but the party, has to sit and decide with the team and myself to determine what we need as a party and I have to commit to deliver what we need. Everywhere you go you hear that Damion is going to run in this seat and that seat,” he said.

Commenting on suggestions that he is not interested in going to a seat that would require him to work hard or campaign extensively, Crawford, who operates a St Mary-based enterprise and will by next week return to The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, as a lecturer, sought to bury the notion during the chat with the Sunday Observer.

“There was a poll in Portia Simpson Miller’s former seat that showed I was the one that persons most wanted, and I didn’t go for it. So if there is a greater shoo-in than that, I am left to be told.

“There is a language called naysay. You have to understand how to translate that language. It’s a foreign language and a naysayer really just tries to find the worst things that he can say about you and it makes me proud, because in this day and age when they can say man a tief or man corrupt, the naysayer can only say that I don’t want a hard seat or I am not ready. Not even my greatest detractor has come with the greatest thing they say about politicians, because I have lived my life in such a way that it can’t even be fathomed that that is true.

“So I am proud that the things that they are are so flimsical, like people say I don’t do enough political work. But nobody goes on more platforms than me, nobody goes to more conferences than me, nobody walks with more candidates than me, so therefore, what is political work? Nobody fighting the social media space more than me. If they could say that I was a thief they would, if they could say I was corrupt they would. If they could say that I manipulate people they would. And thank God they can’t. therefore I am proud that they can say that I don’t want any hard seat. When I took East Rural St Andrew we were seven points behind. We have very short memories. Nobody predicted that we would win East Rural St Andrew, so when we went the PNP said I was the face of the young people, and I went.

“I’m saying to them now I need some time to look at my life, look at my business, and to come back in the fray. I didn’t go to Portia’s old seat, I didn’t go to St Mary, I’m not running down Central Kingston, so therefore that argument is quite whimsical. But nobody knows where I am going to run. If I am running in Region Two, I can be running in St Thomas against James (Robertson), I can be running in St James in any one of those seats, I could be running in Hanover, I can be running in St Catherine.

“I would have a say, because there are going to be times that you are going to decide that if you are going to portray yourself as Superman, then go and deliver. Or a man might say go and deliver for others. That’s a decision that the party will have to make. The party will say go and deliver for others, that’s a decision that the party will have to make,” said Crawford.

Disappointed, he confessed, to how his tenure as MP for St Andrew East Rural ended following his reign as MP from December 2011 to February 2016, Crawford has still not changed his stance that dependence on politics is wrong. He also maintains that education is the only route forward. “Mixed cement is now replaced by a Pre-Mix truck. I haven’t changed that opinion, but I realise that if a product doesn’t sell its either that the market is wrong or the product is wrong. So because I am sure the product is right, I am looking at a different type of marketing. There are gonna be times in this place that you are swallowed by a whale and you just have to accept that that was just not the right thing for you. You are Jonah, and so that’s one of the reasons why I haven’t accepted a seat yet, because when things happen that you can’t explain, always ask God what’s the next step to take. I couldn’t explain how people that I worked so hard for would have voted in such a way and then ask you to come back. So I feel that the next step should be guided by just praying on it all the time and saying is this the right place. If you just run down every seat you might end up again in another situation.”

Known as one who has always touted political change and pushed for certain practices that have become commonplace among parties, Crawford also responded to the view that he alone cannot effect the changes he has always articulated.

“You alone can’t change the system, but you alone can try. I have persons that I found in sixth grade that are now in sixth form. I have persons graduating from UWI that we helped; I have persons who couldn’t read, who went to Clan Carthy (High School), leave in ninth grade and go to Mona (High School) and now going into sixth form that couldn’t read. I have persons whose lives I changed. I don’t need a million people to be walking, but I will keep on walking until some people join. And the public agrees with me, because that’s why I have widespread public support. A lot of them want my style to work,” the former president of the PNP Youth Organisation suggested.