ST JAMES, Jamaica — Chairman of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and local government minister Desmond McKenzie on Saturday deflected questions about the party’s readiness for the local polls.

The focus now, he said, is on the party’s 79th annual conference which will be held in Kingston next Sunday.

“The elections are due in February. We are still a far way from February. We are looking at the existing situation now as it relates to the work that we have to do in this calendar year. So, when we get close to that point, we will indicate what the real position [is],” stated McKenzie during a media briefing held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James after a private session for party members.

“The party is in a mood in terms of getting the base of the party organised to meet the 79th annual conference.”

The conference will be hosted at the National Arena in Kingston at a cost of J$50 million.

The next local government election is constitutionally due no later than February of next year. It was postponed in November 2020 and again in January of this year due to COVID-19.

The JLP has constantly expressed readiness for the local polls, whenever they are called.

Addressing an area Council Four meeting at the Bethel Primary School in Hanover last week Sunday, the party’s deputy leader, J C Hutchinson, encouraged councillor caretakers in waiting to be patient as their reward is coming.

“They have been working hard and I take off my hat to them. …It is strenuous on them but I say to them, keep up the good work. The time is coming when you should be successful,” he said.

He also predicted that the People’s National Party) will lose its stronghold on the Westmoreland and Hanover municipal corporations when the next local government election is called.

Hutchinson said this would give the governing party a clean sweep of the five parishes in the area.

“We have St Elizabeth, we have St James and we have Trelawny municipal corporations. I am saying to you that with all the hard work, I am now declaring that when time comes, we are going to take Westmoreland and Hanover municipal corporations,” he said to a round of applause from party supporters.