FALMOUTH, Trelawny — Despite initial rumblings in some quarters that former Tourism Minister Dr Wykeham McNeill had been “parachuted” into Trelawny Northern by the hierarchy of the People’s National Party (PNP) to replace Dennis Meadows, there appears to be strong support for the former Westmoreland MP among some party executives within the constituency.

According to well-placed Comrades within Trelawny Northern, Meadows is tipped to be Dr McNeill’s campaign manager, a move that the party hierarchy is hoping will bring Meadows’ supporters back into the fold.

Several calls to the cellular phone of the party;s General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell to confirm whether Dr McNeill will be the party’s standard-bearer in the parish have all gone unanswered. However, a highly placed member of the PNP in Trelawny Northern, who spoke to the Jamaica Observer on condition of anonymity, said that McNeill was unanimously endorsed by members of the party’s executive body within the constituency during a recent meeting at William Knibb High School.

“In my mind, because it is so close to the [general] elections we don’t have no time to run up and down to find a candidate – that is my point. We don’t have no time now to go make no name for people, we can’t afford to go start from back. We want somebody out there who people know and who can give us some clout,” the highly placed member of the party’s executive told the
Observer.

Some stakeholders in the constituency are also of the notion that McNeill would prove useful to the constituency because he is a former minister of tourism.

“Falmouth, being a fledgling resort, will benefit from his experience,” a source close to the development said, adding that “Meadows, with his enviable support in the constituency, and Wykeham, with his tourism experience, make for a super team.”

Meadows was earlier this year booted from his position as the party’s standard-bearer following comments in which he endorsed lottery scamming. He still continues as constituency chairman.

“Meadows going with him, and Meadows is the most popular politician in Trelawny right now so some people who vex that Meadows is not the candidate and decide not to vote will be wooed by Meadows. A whole heap a people vex over how Meadows nah run, you know, but at least those people can be influenced by Meadows,” the PNP source said of the strategy being employed.

Dr McNeill and Meadows both refused to comment.

Attorney-at-law Tova Hamilton is the sitting Member of Parliament for Trelawny Northern. She came to office on a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) ticket after she defeated the PNP’s Victor Wright in the last elections.

She became the JLP’s standard-bearer after Meadows resigned from the JLP in March 2022, following what he described then as a toxic relationship. Over the years he had made three failed bids to win the constituency while representing the JLP.

Meadows joined the PNP in October and moved up the hierarchy of the party, becoming chairman of the constituency and then caretaker candidate.

In 2020 McNeill, a former PNP vice-president, suffered a shocking loss in Westmoreland Western to political neophyte Morland Wilson. Before that, McNeill had represented the constituency for 23 consecutive years.