LORRIMERS, Trelawny — Former independent councillor for the Lorrimers Division in Trelawny Southern, businessman Paul Patmore says he is willing to become the People’s National Party (PNP) candidate in Trelawny Southern whenever the general election or a by-election is called in the constituency.

The seat was last held by the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert who last year resigned as Member of Parliament and Speaker of the House.

During an exclusive interview with the Jamaica Observer, on Tuesday, Patmore said PNP supporters in the constituency have been urging him to vie for the seat.

“I have told them that I am now willing to offer myself to represent the party,” he said.

It appears there is a vacancy. During the PNP constituency conference at Albert Town High School last year the party introduced businessman Fabian Davis as its candidate for Trelawny Southern, but Davis was elected as the councillor for the Duncans Division in Trelawny Northern during the run-up to last week’s local government elections.

Patmore, who operates a funeral home in Lowe River, southern Trelawny, says if his bid to be selected by the PNP fails then he is willing to support Davis to wrest the seat from the JLP.

“I would still await his blessings. I will depend on his blessing — and if he doesn’t agree I will be working beside him to give him 100 per cent support,” Patmore said.

The JLP is yet to name a candidate since Dalrymple-Philibert’s resignation. She stepped aside after a ruling by the Integrity Commission’s Director of Corruption Prosecution Keisha Prince-Kameka that she be charged for allegedly running afoul of the Parliament (Integrity of Members) Act, 1973 in her statutory declarations.

Following her resignation JLP supporters in the constituency staged a boisterous march in Albert Town demanding that she reconsider her decision.

The party’s General Secretary Dr Horace Chang, who is also the deputy prime minister, told the Observer last year that C Junior Gager, who was then councillor for the Warsop Division and mayor of Falmouth, was assigned to oversee the seat while a suitable replacement for Dalrymple-Philibert was being sought. Gager was re-elected last Monday and is tipped to return as mayor of Falmouth and chairman of the Trelawny Municipal Corporation.

Patmore is confident that if he gets the go-ahead from the PNP he will be a strong contender for the seat, no matter who the JLP selects as its candidate.

“I think I can pull off a win. I know the JLP will have a challenge putting up a candidate against me,” he said.

This would be the first time in 40 years the PNP would not be going into an election in Trelawny Southern as the underdog, despite winning twice over the period. Before her resignation Dalrymple-Philibert was the Member of Parliament since 2007.

However, Patmore’s confidence is buoyed by his popularity in the Lorrimers Division, a bedrock of JLP support which the governing party’s Desmond Smith won with 1,674 votes to the PNP’s Gregory Clarke in the February 26, 2024 Local Government Elections.

Patmore served as the division’s councillor between 2012 and 2016.

A number of residents in and around the Lowe River community still benefit from the water supply system that he set up during his tenure as an independent councillor.

“My main project was water. The Paul Patmore Water Project in Lowe River is one of the major things for the community right now. Presently we have over 30 trucks that come and catch water and drive around to the different communities and parishes to sell water, so that’s one of the things that keeps Paul Patmore’s name alive in not just Lorrimers Division, but South Trelawny and Jamaica on a whole,” he told the Observer.

“I started that project before I was a councillor and during the time I spent, through the help of a RADA [Rural Agricultural Development Authority] project we spent over $2 million to improve on the project. We got help through the Trelawny Municipal Corporation at the time, and we used up some of our monthly allocation to make sure that the project works. We started off with personal money but after that we were able to get cash through the parish council and through RADA,” he added.