JAMAICANS know that it’s not easy for a political party representative or hard-core supporter to wear the ‘colour’ of the other side.

Hence our deep appreciation of the respect with which the late Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) councillor for the Knockpatrick Division in Manchester, Mr Cleon “Pancho” Francis, was held.

At last Thursday’s sitting of the Manchester Municipal Corporation, People’s National Party (PNP) councillor for the Alligator Pond Division Mr Dalton Brown wore a green tie in tribute to his fallen friend and colleague, Mr Francis. The latter died recently at age 52 after spending a month in hospital.

Green, as Jamaicans well know, is the colour of the ruling JLP, orange is the dominant colour for the Opposition PNP.

We are told that Mr Francis, a businessman — proprietor of Top Notch Block Factory in Sunset (south-west of Mandeville) — entered representational politics in 2012 as a JLP candidate, defeating the PNP’s Mr Goyfield Harrison by 152 votes.

Mr Francis was re-elected in the 2016 Local Government Election, defeating well known social activist Mrs Wendy Freckleton of the PNP by 548 votes.

Our reporter, Mr Kasey Williams, tells us of the many messages from Mr Francis’s colleague councillors and Manchester Central Member of Parliament Ms Rhoda Crawford which described him as a down to earth, nice person who cared for all his constituents — regardless of their political affiliation.

Said Ms Crawford: “He was a real community man, a family man. He didn’t believe in partisan politics; it didn’t matter if people supported the JLP, PNP or had no affiliation … Pancho was always looking out and responding to their needs outside of politics …”

Similar sentiments came from Mr Francis’s JLP colleagues in the Manchester municipality.

But to get a feel of the real mettle of the man, it is perhaps best to hear from his political opponents.

Says Councillor McArthur Collins (PNP, New Green Division): “For him, it wasn’t about politics but for what he was doing for people in his constituency. He was always about assisting people and getting children to go to school…”

And Councillor Anthony Bryce (PNP, Newport Division) was, if anything, even more profound:

“When he was running for the Knockpatrick Division he came to me and I said to him ‘I wish you all the best,’ [and] he said to me, ‘Me and you a nuh orange and green, me and you a brethren.’ Pancho is a legend, a general, and good man. I wonder why good people never live long..? But, God knows best.” A similar story came from Councillor Jones Oliphant (PNP, Mandeville Division) who had known Mr Francis as a friend long before political representation.

Mr Oliphant recalls Mr Francis saying: “Let me tell you something, we are neighbours [and] we are friends, but let not politics divide us.”

Older Jamaicans remember with fear and trembling the vicious tribalism of decades ago which took our country to the very edge of civil war because of political and ideological differences.

‘Snapshots’ of Councillor Cleon “Pancho” Francis’s life shared by his colleagues, more especially his political opponents, remind us that for all the bad, in many respects Jamaica is in a far better place today than 40 years ago.