PNP can retake the country — Simpson Miller
MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Leader of the Opposition People’s National (PNP) Portia Simpson Miller told supporters in Manchester on the weekend that it is possible for the party to “retake the country” through the upcoming local government election and urged them not to lose sight of its significance.
“We cannot treat this local government election lightly. We are to do everything that we can to ensure that the People’s National Party controls the parish councils across the country. We can retake the country by way of local government,” she said.
Simpson Miller was speaking during a campaign stop at Hillside in the Knockpatrick Division of Manchester Central. She said that she was going across the country to ensure that the candidates are staying with the people.
Councillors, she said, are closer to the people and are like deputies to the Members of Parliament who sometimes have to be out of the parish.
The PNP leader, in endorsing candidate for the Knockpatrick Division Wendy Freckleton, reiterated the value of representation at the local level, noting that she started as a councillor and was able to serve at the level of prime minister.
Freckleton up against the Jamaica Labour Party’s incumbent candidate Cleon Francis.
Her candidacy for the post marks her first attempt at representational politics.
Freckleton, a newcomer, is the proprietor of the community newspaper
Mandeville Weekly and a former president of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.
She told the
Jamaica Observer on Nomination Day that she also has aspirations of being mayor of Mandeville.
“We don’t really enter things to settle at the entry level. My concentration now is on winning the parish council. Once we win the parish council then, if my colleagues see me as the most suitable person to become mayor, I will be more than willing to accept the position,” said Freckleton.
Mayor of Mandeville Brenda Ramsay is now on her way out of representational politics after close to two decades in the Bellefield Division as a PNP councillor.
In the 2012 Local Government Election the PNP won 11 of the 15 seats to take control of the Manchester Parish Council.
