NEGRIL, Westmoreland — Vice-president of the People’s National Party (PNP) Ian Hayles, who was selected as chairman for the constituency of Westmoreland Western on Sunday, has served notice that the party intends to reclaim its former stronghold. However, the party will have to stop the infighting, he said, to accomplish this goal.

“Comrades, I want to say to you tonight, we have some work that we will have to do. In this constituency you have more PNP than JLP [Jamaica Labour Party] so when you hit the road tomorrow, you tell them [to] hurry up and serve their little time and go on because PNP is coming back for its territory,” declared Hayles.

The seat was created in 1944 and the PNP won it in 12 of the 18 general elections. The party lost that seat, as well as the other two — Westmoreland Central and Eastern — in the 2020 General Election.

On Sunday, Hayles asked for unity in the PNP, which has been dogged by internal battles, especially since 2019 when Peter Bunting mounted an unsuccessful challenge to then PNP President Peter Phillips.

Hayles was one of Bunting’s most vocal supporters in that contest and was scathing in his criticism of Dr Phillips’ leadership.

“I don’t have any time to fight any PNP; my fight is with the Jamaica Labour Party. That is where my fight is,” Hayles, a former member of the JLP, declared on Sunday.

“So, for those that don’t look at where we are going, I say ‘Let’s go home tonight and focus’, because while we fight and divide, the country is running in the ground,” he added.

Hayles also paid homage to his predecessor Dr Wykeham McNeill, who held the seat for five terms, from 1997 then lost it in 2020. According to Jamaica Observer sources Dr McNeill, who was not at Sunday’s meeting, took leave from the post of chairman more than a year ago. The selection process is seen as an attempt to revive the PNP within the constituency.

“I am saying to you tonight, whatever had happened in the past, let it stay in the past. The job as a Member of Parliament is not an easy one and I want to big up Comrade Wykeham McNeill. This party is bigger than every one of us that is inside here,” Hayles stated.

Efforts to get a comment from Dr McNeill were unsuccessful as he did not reply to messages left on his phone.

Hayles was selected by constituency delegates during a private session held at the Negril Community Centre. There was no other challenger for the post. According to Observer sources, one councillor who had expressed an interest in the position failed to show up.

In addition to Hayles’ selection as chairman, four vice-chairmen were selected — Wayne Vaccianna, Garfield James, Arthel Colley, and Annetta Hilton.

“Today is a very important day for Westmoreland Western and [from] everything that we see here tonight, if we go tomorrow and execute, there is no way that the People’s National Party will not be victorious,” declared Hayles.

The former junior minister in the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, under the Portia Simpson Miller Administration, listed poor water supply, squatting, development of Negril, and poor roads as some of the issues he hopes to address if given the chance to run as a candidate when the next general election is called.

“There is no way that the people of Negril are not supposed to have a market; we are in a constituency that needs water. There is no way that the hotels dem up the road there supposed to have water and the residents of Negril don’t have water. Something is wrong with that,” Hayles told the party faithful.

“Comrades, the people of Sheffield want roads. The people of Friendship Division want roads. The people of Grange Hill Division want road too. The people of Little London want too,” he added.

“There is no way that a lot of our citizens [should] still be living on captured land… some here in Negril. But I can tell you this much, under the next People’s National Party Administration wi goin’ deal with some of the land issues in Western Westmoreland here. Wi goin’ have fi deal wid it,” he vowed.

“Comrades, it can’t be that Negril is for some people. Negril was built because of each and every one of you here. It wasn’t built by any big hotel up there; it was built by the small man in Negril here,” he continued.

Reiterating why he is the man for the job, Hayles said, “A lot of things that your Member of Parliament would do is not being done now. Everywhere we go in this constituency we see garbage — is the most garbage I ever see in Western Westmoreland. But Comrades, look, it is important that you know where we are going. My job is quite simple; [it] is to work hard on your behalf. So, whether it is education, whether it is structural development, whether it is electricity, whether it is water, I have done it already and I will do it again.”

The 50-year-old was a three-term MP for Hanover Western, a safe seat for the PNP. He had won the seat in 2007 but lost it by more than 1,000 votes to attorney-at-law Tamika Davis of the JLP in the September 2020 General Election. Since then it was heavily rumoured that Hayles, who was born in Westmoreland before migrating overseas at the age of 13 and later returning to Jamaica, was seeking a seat in Westmoreland.