FALMOUTH, Trelawny — Former Government Senator Dennis Meadows, who was on Sunday evening selected as the People’s National Party (PNP) standard-bearer for Trelawny Northern, has promised that if he becomes the next Member of Parliament (MP) his constituency office will be separate from his PNP campaign office. This, he said, is to ensure that he is accessible to all constituents, regardless of political affiliation. It is an issue, he said, that he intends to raise with PNP President Mark Golding.

“I believe you should have an office of the Member of Parliament, no matter who it is. And that office must not have green nor orange; it must have the Jamaica Coat of Arms [and] it must paint in cream,” said Meadows. He was speaking Sunday night shortly after being selected as the PNP’s standard-bearer for Trelawny Northern.

Meadows said his goal is for his constituents to feel comfortable coming to him for help, whether they are members of the governing Jamaica Labour Party, the Opposition PNP, or independents. He does not want the colour of the building from which he is serving them to stand in the way.

“When [it] come to the bright orange office or the bright green office, some people don’t want come. They must be able to come on a neutral ground, the office of the Member of Parliament,” he told Comrades at the meeting in Falmouth.

“I attract support from both sides of the political divide — I have JLP and PNP. I am able to attract them because my politics is not divisive and never tribal. I serve people, not colour. And while I am committed to all of you, when the rain falls, it falls on the just and the unjust. One side can’t nyam and the other side nuh eat nuh food — the country can’t run that way. While parson christen him pickney first, me have to help me neighbour too because me and my neighbours must vote out Labour,” he quipped.

Meadows, a former board member of the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA), walked away from the JLP in 2002 after a war of words with FLA CEO Shane Dalling who named him as one of several officials who granted gun permits to people with criminal convictions or adverse traces. In July 2022 Meadows confirmed that he had applied to the PNP for membership.

He thrice unsuccessfully vied for the Trelawny Northern seat on a JLP ticket. To bring it home for the PNP he will have to get past current MP and attorney-at-law, the JLP’s Tova Hamilton, .

Meadows took his first step on Sunday, getting the nod from the PNP to face off against Hamilton. During a ‘yes/no’ vote he amassed 248 of the 262 ballots cast. One vote was spoilt, while 13 voted “No”.

Following the selection process he thanked the delegates who voted for him and expressed his intention to reach out to the 13 who did not support his bid.

Meadows, who claimed that he was pilloried by his former JLP colleagues after he decided to cross the floor, told cheering PNP supporters that he should have made the move before.

“It took me a long while; it took me too long. You have been urging me to cross the border. [In the past], every time you run against me you say, ‘We would love to vote for you.’ Well, me deh yah now,” a pumped-up Meadows said.

In addition to his plans for an MP office that is open to all, he also spoke of plans — even before being elected — to push for an additional high school in the constituency. Trelawny now has seven.

“We [are] bringing in new citizens, we building a lot of housing schemes. Over 3,000, 4,000 houses have been built here since 2007 so you have a lot of people coming in. What they are not doing is adding the classrooms to deal with that influx. One of the first things I am going to do as your Member of Parliament is to lobby for a high school to be built in Northern Trelawny — we need the classrooms,” Meadows told party supporters.

“And I don’t have to wait until we win to do that. Me have mouth, me going talk until I get there because we need more classrooms,” he added.

During the event, chairman of the PNP’s Region One, Dr Pauline Foster thanked delegates for participating in the selection process and congratulated Meadows for energising the party’s support base within the constituency.