MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Political leaders here say former Cabinet minister and People’s National Party (PNP) stalwart Dean Peart, who died on Sunday at age 77, was fundamental to the development of Manchester North Western in every way.

PNP Region Five Chairman Hopeton McCatty, and current Member of Parliament for Manchester North Western Mikael Phillips hailed Peart for his passionate commitment to community life, underlined by the building of community centres throughout the constituency.

McCatty also emphasised that Peart, affectionately called Deanie, was instrumental in rebuilding the PNP in Manchester alongside his brother Michael Peart following sweeping, demoralising defeat for the party in 1980 by the Edward Seaga-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

“When you talk about Deanie, you have to talk about Michael. He was his sidekick. They were very close,” McCatty told the
Jamaica Observer on Monday.

“I knew his brother [Michael] first and we worked at Alcan together. In the election of 1980 I was one of those who was at Sam Sharpe Square,” McCatty said in reference to then prime minister and PNP president Michael Manley’s famous “150,000 strong can’t be wrong” mass meeting in Montego Bay on October 5, 1980.

When McCatty relocated to Manchester North Western in 1982 he was recruited by Dean Peart.

He recalled that “after the massive defeat of 1980 [parliamentary election]” the PNP also lost the 1981 parish council election with Peart losing his council seat.

“We lost all our seats in Manchester [and he and his brother] Michael decided that it was time to rebuild the organisation,” said McCatty.

“In 1982 the rebuilding started. Michael was the strategy man while Deanie was a street man. We started by building what we called PNP groups and that is how I joined the PNP in 1982 — the Brumalia Progressive Group as the secretary and Michael was the chairperson. The funny thing is that a lot of people in the PNP, having lost so massively and having sacrificed, they went off and said it is time to go make money. They laughed at Deanie and Mikey as nobody else went around to build groups,” said McCatty.

By 1983, following the snap election called by the Edward Seaga-led Administration but which went uncontested by the PNP, the rebuilding was on in earnest. McCatty said Dean Peart could spot committed Comrades who were willing to work.

“He recruited me and other young people including former mayor of Mandeville Horace Williams and Anthony Watson [former Mile Gully councillor],” said McCatty.

Peart was described as an altruistic individual who helped others build politically.

“He was not a selfish person. Having built the organisation by 1983 in Manchester North West he went around the parish and helped build other constituencies such that by 1986 when he ran for the parish council he won and he became the mayor of Mandeville, because all the other councillors looked up to him as the person who led them through,” said McCatty.

The PNP region five chairman said Peart was an effective mayor to the point where his policies remain active in the operations of the now Manchester Municipal Corporation.

“He was always a street man, so there are two things I remember when he was mayor of Mandeville. His office was on the street. He walked the streets. He walked with the officers. He walked to the market, if you wanted to see him he wouldn’t be in the office. He was always on the road across Christiana, Mile Gully, and Porus,” said McCatty.

“He was a good mayor and he implemented measures in the towns that are still in place today through the PNP and JLP administrations,” McCatty said.

In the 1989 election Peart won the Manchester North West seat for the PNP and held it for 22 years before he did not seek re-election and was replaced by Phillips as the PNP standard-bearer in the constituency.

Peart also led, at various times, the ministries of labour, environment and lands, and local government.

According to Phillips “Deanie was very protective of Manchester North Western. That is where he was born and grew up. His father [Ernest Peart] was former Member of Parliament. He [Dean] spoke what was on his mind. He was a very honest person”.

“He spent his time as Member of Parliament outfitting and building communities. We all dubbed him as the community centre man. He built more community centres in north west Manchester than most constituencies combined have seen. He was very much into community development, building out schools, putting in classrooms, and building out water infrastructure,” said Phillips, while acknowledging that Peart allowed for there to be a smooth transition of the seat in 2011.

“His tenure as Member of Parliament is one that Manchester will remember. He was somewhat the leader of the pack in the parish… I learnt a lot at his feet [about] how the constituency is run and how to develop projects, how things should be done and how things should not be done,” said Phillips.

McCatty reiterated the importance of community centres to Peart.

“Deanie believed in empowering people. The community centres were not just built for meeting places. The centres were built for education and health. The health centre in Lincoln was burnt down and he built it over and put a community centre upstairs… You have a field to play football and cricket. People who couldn’t read would learn how to at the community centres,” said McCatty.

He said Peart was also instrumental in pushing for community councils, a principal’s association, sports association, ministers’ fraternal and farmers group.

“All these groups would meet and then tell him what they want. They would articulate the needs of the people and it was not tribal,” said McCatty.

Although he retired from representational politics in 2011, Peart never left his people.

“He told us from 2008 and the transition took place from 2009 and it was one of the smoothest transitions I have ever seen. He showed Mikael the ropes and allowed him to take over things that he could, so by the time Mikael came to run in 2011 people knew Mikael,” said McCatty.

“Deanie never retired from politics, because he always came home to North West Manchester. His son Dino (also named Dean Peart) is a businessman. His brother Michael is still here and his family is still in Battersea. Deanie would still drive through the constituency and look for his people. We knew that he was sick, but we didn’t know he was this sick. We really mourn his loss and we give thanks that we were able to honour him when he retired,” added McCatty.

He recalled how Peart engaged his constituents on weekends and how he was bipartisan as an MP.

“On a Saturday or Sunday morning he would put on his shorts and just drive to look for Miss Babs [constituent], the elderly people from his father’s days. He would just go and sit with people in their fields and just chat. He would stop on the corner and talk to people, so he knew things. He drove around and talked to the people and he wasn’t making any big speech,” said McCatty.

“He was a worker. He was really committed to the people of North West Manchester. Yes he cuss Labourites, but he cuss PNP too. One thing with Deanie: When he cuss you today, him don’t remember about it tomorrow,” added McCatty.

The PNP region five chairman recounted a situation in Breeze Hole, a Jamaica Labour Party stronghold in Mile Gully.

“It was somewhere we weren’t even allowed to enter. The road down there was very bad, and he sent someone down there to check it out. And he wanted to fix the road, and the people refused it, saying they don’t want anything from PNP. And Deanie was strategically able to trick them to make them believe that is not even him fixing it, that money came from Labourite, and he went ahead and fixed it,” McCatty recalled.

He said Peart was forgiving despite challenges and even a suspected case of mistaken identity during the violent 1980 election period.

“After the 1980 election one person was shot in North-West Manchester, someone from Battersea who resembled him, and people still have it up to this day that it is Deanie that they came to kill-and that was up in a district name Freetown,” said McCatty.

“He never carried a grudge, but he wasn’t afraid to tell you his mind and he could not keep a secret,” added McCatty.