Keith Walford is banking on work he has done over the past four years in St Ann South Western to secure a second term in office.

The People’s National Party (PNP) first-timer, who said he threw his hat into the political ring after “prayer and soul-searching”, is being challenged in the February 25 General Election by attorney-at-law Zavia Mayne of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

The seat, since it was formed in 1959, has only had one other PNP representative from 1997 to 2002 when Glenville Shaw defeated the JLP’s Neville Gallimore, who served eight consecutive terms prior to that.

THE ODDS ARE AGAINST HIM

It is this history, if anything else, which could threaten Walford’s chances of a return to the Lower House and has the ruling PNP worried. In the December 29, 2011 General Election, backed by a national swing against the JLP, Walford pulled off a surprise win, polling 6,525 votes to Ernest Smith’s 5,703. According to the Electoral Office of Jamaica, 54 per cent of the 22,828 registered voters participated in the electoral process. A total of 2,258 persons have since been added to the voters’ list.

In the 2011 General Election, Walford won two of the four divisions — Calderwood, 1,489 (Smith: 796) and Borobridge, 2,311 (Smith: 1,326) — while Smith won the other two — Gibraltar, 1,737 (Walford: 1,161) and Alexandria, 1,844 (Walford: 1,564). The PNP’s fear is that several JLP supporters who did not vote in the last election will do so this time around. The PNP has never won the Gibraltar and Alexandria divisions.

BANKING ON SUCCESS

But Walford, the man behind Jamaica’s long-running Bass Odyssey Sound System, is not about to roll over and die as he believes he has surpassed expectations in terms of developing a constituency marred by the lack of basic amenities.

“I am very confident of victory. I’ve done the work; the work is there for all to see and I’m fairly proud of what I have achieved in the four years that I have been member of parliament. So I am confident in the work, that it will take me over the victory line,” the St Ann businessman told the Jamaica Observer early January, during a tour of the Alexandria and Borobridge divisions.

According to Walford, significant developments have taken place in the constituency under his tenure as member of parliament. He pointed to the completion of some sporting and training facilities; the construction of a basic school, with another in progress through the help from the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports, and Education (CHASE) Fund; the renovating of the skills training centre at Armadale Juvenile Correctional Centre, where seven teenagers perished in a fire in 2009; the signing of a memorandum of understanding to begin refurbishing Alexandria Hospital; as well as the resurfacing of several roads. He also pointed to Cascade, which is the only community in the constituency with potable water. This development, he said, happened since he became member of parliament.

A CLOSE RACE

But despite the work done, Walford is well aware that a second term will not be handed to him on a silver platter.

“I agree that this will be a very close seat. As we all know, this has been a seat that has been [run] by the Jamaica Labour Party for [49 years]. I think I am only the second PNP member of parliament who has won the seat. So it has been dominated for years by the Jamaica Labour Party,” said Walford.

“I don’t think in the 50 years there’s much to show in terms of achievement. I’m very happy that I can show in four years what I have done. Based off that fact I am very confident. The polls are somewhere around even Steven right now, but going forward, I am very confident my people will look into what I have achieved in the short time and say, ‘Well, this certainly deserves a second term,’” he said.

DIE-HEART LABOURITES

The PNP incumbent does not believe that Mayne is much of a challenge to him. In fact, he has insisted that it is tradition that is against him.

“…The challenge is not really Mr Mayne; the challenge is that most people have been die heart Jamaica Labour Party supporters for years now. So almost anyone that the Labour Party puts here will stand a good chance of winning based on the record of the constituency,” he maintained.

“I really don’t see Mr Mayne as a challenge. It is the people who I have to convert to say that, ‘yes, you have done the work, in comparison to what the Labour Party has done over the years,’” Walford said, adding that along with his team, he has tried to address the needs of the constituents as they arise.

A PASSION FOR THE CONSTITUENCY

And with 11 days to go before Walford knows his fate, the St Ann native has maintained that even if constituents bid him farewell, he will continue the work alongside the member of parliament.

“I am very passionate about my [constituency]. I was born and [raised] in the middle of South West St Ann in one of the major towns, Alexandria, where I grew up. Entering politics was a way for me to develop the constituency, because I was not pleased with what was happening and that is the main reason I entered politics,” he said.

“…I don’t know if I would continue in politics, but I would certainly be working along with whoever the People’s National Party puts there as a representative.”

JLP CONFIDENT

TheSunday Observer was not able to tour the constituency with Mayne, who was unable to commit to a date. Mayne, who was contacted several times by theSunday Observer, said as an attorney his schedule was “hectic”.

Nevertheless, in an interview with CVM-TV aired on Nomination Day, Mayne insisted that he would become the fourth JLP member of parliament for the constituency. He said the constituents have had no real representation for some time and vowed to change that.

A JLP SEAT

In the meantime, political historian Michael Burke is of the view that Walford’s task is difficult.

“It is really a Gallimore seat, a JLP seat,” Burke said, referring to the fact that the Gallimores (Gideon and Neville) have held the seat from 1959 to 1997, when it was lost to the PNP for the first time. “But in recent times it has been a PNP seat, so it is a swing seat.”