MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Kern Spencer, who lost his bid to represent the People’s National Party (PNP) in St Elizabeth North Eastern in June, has again faced defeat after being rejected to continue as the party’s Region Five chairman.

Hopeton McCatty, a former chairman of the PNP’s Region Five, has been returned as its chairman. Region Five comprises Manchester and St Elizabeth.

McCatty, who was replaced two years ago as chairman by Spencer, regained the post on Sunday. He received 199 votes to Spencer’s 135 during a regional executive conference at Knox College Cobbla Campus.

Spencer, during an interview with the Jamaica Observer, suggested he was not confident he would be selected to continue as chairman due to poor mobilisation.

“I was contemplating long and hard if I should have run back [because] sometimes it is best to quit while you’re ahead. I know that I will go down in history for the regional chairman who has been responsible for rebuilding Region Five,” said Spencer.

“… There were Comrades who were encouraging me to go forward [but] I must say there was a lack of enthusiasm on my part to go forward. So, as it relates to the results, that would have been [due] to a lack of mobilisation on our part,” he added.

This latest defeat follows Spencer losing his bid to be the party’s representative in St Elizabeth North Eastern against Zuleika Jess.

When asked about his political future Spencer said he “will still be contributing” to the PNP’s mobilisation.

“You don’t have to be at the helm to do the party’s work… I may just not be the regional chairman but sometimes you are more effective operating from the stands than being at wicket. I am still here. I have a number of candidates who I have been working with at the local government level over the last two years and I will continue to be working with them,” he said.

“Undisputedly, the region is now in a state of political readiness and is ready for any form of political eventuality. I ensured that we have all 30 local government election candidates in place, and within a couple more weeks we will have all the parliamentary candidates in place,” he added.

Spencer credits himself for making the party’s Region Five attractive.

“I wish Comrade McCatty all the best and, as I said in a post that I made on social media, I dedicated two years, basically a sacrifice, because when you are in Opposition people don’t remember that it is voluntary work — you don’t get paid for it,” he said.

“It is a full-time job so I dedicated two years of my life to rebuilding the region. It is strong and firm now [and] in a winning position. I took it from where nobody was interested in the PNP, where we couldn’t even have quorums and meetings. I took it from there and I rebuilt it. Now, it is just pure excitement the workers are re-motivated. The machinery is up and running in the constituencies, divisions in the group level, and I am happy and pleased, and I want to commend all those who worked with me over the last two years,” added Spencer.

He said he will be supporting McCatty in Region Five.

“I ran two years of serious sacrifice — financial, mental and physical — and the two years felt like ten years because it was a lot of work that we had to do,” he said.

“I am now handing over with no malice — just love and peace and unity to Comrade McCatty for him to run the next leg,” added Spencer.

The Observer was told that the PNP has settled representatives in Manchester Southern, Manchester North Eastern, St Elizabeth North Western, St Elizabeth South Eastern.

“We are fifty per cent in both parishes… We are looking to have that settled within the next couple of weeks,” Spencer said.

McCatty told the Observer that he will be mobilising the region with the assistance of Manchester North Western Member of Parliament Mikael Phillips and former Manchester Central MP Peter Bunting.

“I want to thank Kern for his contribution and, going forward [as] Region Five, ensure that we secure the victories and Comrade Mark Golding becomes the next prime minister of Jamaica… For the last two years I have worked with Comrade Kern in the region with no issues and I am sure that he will work with me. In St Elizabeth North East Comrade Jess is now the candidate, and I expect him as a Comrade to work with Jess,” he said.

“In terms of election preparedness, Comrade Mikael Phillips is in charge of St Elizabeth and Comrade Peter Bunting is in charge of Manchester… The party is getting itself ready, and with the assignment of Comrade Mikael in St Elizabeth and Comrade Bunting in Manchester that is a signal that we are taking it very seriously,” added McCatty.