GOVERNMENT Minister Daryl Vaz has promised that State resources will not be distributed from his ministry on a partisan basis, or based on how people voted in the just concluded local government elections where his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) lost several divisions which it had held.

In an extensive interview with the Jamaica Observer on Thursday, Vaz, who has the super ministry of science, energy, telecommunications and transport, joined the party in distancing himself from comments by Cabinet colleague Everald Warmington, who on Monday declared that he would starve People’s National Party (PNP) councillor-elect for the Old Harbour South Division, Dr Kurt Waul, of money to carry out work in his division.

At the same time, Warmington indicated that he would allocate funds to the defeated JLP candidate in the division, Lloyd Grant.

Responding to questions from the Observer about Warmington’s comment Vaz said, “Let me just make it very clear that I disassociate myself from statements like that”.

He added: “I have a philosophy that is very simple, that you run on a party ticket [and] you are the JLP candidate, but once you are successful and you win and you become the Member of Parliament (MP), you are the Member of Parliament for all of your constituency.

“And that includes those who voted against you, those who did not vote, and those who voted for you. What you need to do as a smart politician is to see how you can win over those who voted against you and engage those who did not vote to get them to be interested to vote for you based on your performance and your service to the constituency.”

The veteran politician, who is the MP for Portland Western, and his wife Ann-Marie, the MP for Portland Eastern, led the JLP to a seven to two win in Portland in Monday’s elections.

Port Antonio and Prospect were the only two divisions which the PNP won in the parish and Vaz told the Observer that the people in those areas have no reason to believe that they will be treated unfairly in the distribution of State resources.

“As a matter of fact, those two divisions are in the township and also adjoining…so the mayor, even, though he might represent another division, has a responsibility, and resources that are given specifically for the township, which is Port Antonio, and which are utilised for Port Antonio and can only be used for Port Antonio.

“Plus, you have the councillor for that division, who also gets his own resources for that division, so there is a safeguard in there. As I said before, when you become councillor or Member of Parliament you are there for all, not a selected division, not a targeted division but for all divisions,” said Vaz as he condemned the tribal politics which, in the past, has seen some areas starved of resources because the residents did not support the governing party.

The controversial Warmington has faced a backlash for his comments made in the wake of the JLP’s disappointing showing in the local government polls, with the party’s General Secretary Dr Horace Chang describing the statements as “reprehensible” and declaring that they did not represent the views of the party or its leadership.

“The party condemns these statements and distances itself from the suggestion of political victimisation within constituencies.

“At the core of our organisation we espouse the principles of equal rights and justice, and any suggestion that the democratically elected councillor will be victimised must be rebuffed,” declared Chang.

In the face of the strong criticisms, Warmington on Wednesday issued a news release in which he claimed that his statements were “misunderstood”.

“It was never my intention to imply that a duly elected councillor should be denied rightful funding for their municipal division,” said Warmington.

“My remarks were focused on the established practice that MPs direct funds for constituencies while councillors direct funds from the municipal council. These are distinct and separate channels,” added Warmington.

On Thursday afternoon Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced that Warmington had resigned.