PORT ANTONIO, Portland — People’s National Party President (PNP) Mark Golding has hailed attorney Isat Buchanan as a champion of human rights.

His comments came as he presented Buchanan as the PNP’s standard-bearer for Portland Eastern, to face off against Ann-Marie “Action Ann” Vaz in the next general election.

“People, we brought to you a human rights champion. A man whose heart is with the people, a man who is not afraid to take on vested interest of the establishment, of the elite, and oppressors — for people who are vulnerable and need help,” Golding said as party supporters cheered.

Buchanan has two drug-related convictions and he has been labelled as a misogynistic for his comments about Jamaica’s first woman Director of Public Prosecutions, Paula Llewelyn.

His stock rose after he successfully led the legal team that had the murder conviction of dancehall entertainer Adidja “Vybz Kartel” Palmer and his then three co-accused quashed by the Privy Council in the United Kingdom. When news first broke that long-time PNP worker Colin Bell was being asked to step aside to make way for Buchanan’s foray into representational politics, the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) bashed the PNP for its choice, arguing that the attorney has a “penchant for unbecoming conduct”.

The PNP stressed then, and on Sunday night Golding reiterated, the importance of forgiveness.

“I man believe in redemption; that is a Christian principle, Jesus Christ himself preached redemption. Not because a man make a mistake in his early [years] that don’t mean it cast a shadow over his entire life. He can rally back again and become better than before and become an outstanding citizen and help the country to move forward,” the PNP president insisted.

Golding also buttressed his assertion that Buchanan is a human rights champion by pointing to his legal work in Bernard Lodge and Lluidas Vale when the Government took action against what it described as illegal land settlement. The Opposition leader described it differently.

“On two occasions when this government was setting its power against the people in Bernard Lodge, when they were licking down poor people’s houses… It is Isat Buchanan me draw for and get an injunction,” railed Golding.

He told Comrades that in the early 1970s, at the request of former PNP president and Prime Minister Michael Manley, Worthy Park Estates gave 65 families land in Lluidas Vale.

“They have been paying for their land over a period of time and have built great beautiful houses on it, many of them have gone away on farm work and this government serve an eviction notice on them without warning and say them must come off the land within 90 days,” said an indignant Golding.

Confident that issues like these and candidates like Buchanan will secure a victory for the PNP, he urged Prime Minister and JLP leader Andrew Holness to call the general election which is constitutionally due by September 2025.