South West St Catherine Told To Save Ja From Warmington

By: Daraine Luton

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Having served in Parliament with Everald Warmington since he was first elected in 2002, Fitz Jackson and Phillip Paulwell have appealed to South West St Catherine voters not to send him back as he is lacks the decency to occupy such high office.

"Your election in this constituency is no local election. It is a national election," said Fitz Jackson, the People's National Party standard-bearer in South St Catherine.

"If yuh don't go out and mek sure that Comrade Mears come to Gordon House, you will stand indicted in the eyes of all decent citizens of Jamaica," Jackson said at a PNP rally in Old Harbour on Saturday night.

The PNP has nominated Rudyard 'Kippy' Mears to challenge Warmington in the seat it last won in 1997.

Paulwell, who served as leader of government business in the last House of Representatives, said he wants to see the Parliament get rid of Warmington.

"We have too much disrespect, too much vulgarity and bad behaviour in the Parliament," Paulwell said.

Warmington, who first won the seat by 1,214 votes, saw his margin cut to 916 in the 2011 general election.

He won the 2007 election over Dennis Jones by 3,244 votes.

The voters' list has swelled by 4,683 persons since the 2011 general election to 36,778.

WARMINGTON'S FAULTS

The rambunctious Warmington, the cousin of PNP President Portia Simpson Miller, has often found himself in the naughty corner as a result of poor behaviour.

Among his indiscretions are the flipping of the middle finger to members of the press, a notorious 'go to hell' comment to a journalist, and the labelling of Lisa Hanna as a 'Jezebel'.

"I tell yuh candidate that him is not running for South West St Catherine, him is running for Jamaica because your candidate and all of you in South West have to relieve the Parliament of the distress that it has been under," Jackson said.

Jackson said that when people go out on Thursday to vote, they should ensure success of the PNP mission of "saving the Parliament from some of the most undesirable set of behavior and conduct that it has seen in a long time".

The four-time member of parliament said that although elected in South St Catherine, he has a greater responsibility to the country.

"I want you to grant me a favour, I want you to grant Jamaica a favour, I want you to grant all decent people of Jamaica a favour by making sure that Comrade Mears becomes your member of parliament," Jackson said.

He said that having participated in walks in New Harbour with Ruddy Mears, the PNP candidate, it is clear to him " the people dem caah wait to get rid of the indecency from Gordon House".

"They saying to me .... 'We are embarrassed. Why is it we can't have a decent somebody representing us in the house of Parliament?'" he added.

Denise Daley, the regional chairman for the PNP Region 4, which covers St Catherine and Clarendon, said South West St Catherine voters have a most important task on Thursday.

"The entire world is watching this seat; is watching to make sure that you tell my very good friend 'Bye-bye 'Warmie', bye-bye'," she said.

"We want to restore decent and dignity to Parliament," said former president of the Senate, Floyd Morris, in an appeal to Comrades to send a representative to Gordon House in whom they can be proud.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com