Waite, name changed but desire to win remains

By: editorial@gleanerjm.com

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WHEN HE contested and won the Ipswich division in St Elizabeth for the People’s National Party (PNP) in 2016, he did so under the name Prince Mugabe Waite. But come February 26, he will be contesting the 2024 local government election in the same division as Mugabe Kilimanjaro.

“I am a Pan Africanist and I identify strongly with my heritage, and I wanted to have a full African name ... it was done for cultural reasons, and it is very important and personal to me,” said Kilimanjaro, who is the brother of former PNP senator, Basil Waite.

“I have no doubt that, in time, Kilimanjaro will become a household name in Jamaican politics.”

Kilimanjaro, who registered a close 1,099 to 1,071 win over the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Kenroy Samuels in 2016, is confident he will retain the seat, despite a declaration by JC Hutchinson, the JLP’s member of parliament for St Elizabeth Northwest, that he will be targeting the division. It is the only one of the three divisions in his constituency that is in the hands of the PNP.

“Based on the work we have done, and the information we have, we have sufficient support to win the division comfortably,” Kilimanjaro said. “I am not too concerned about the pronouncements of JC Hutchinson, I can tell you that JC Hutchinson is investing a lot of resources in local government in the division because he does not want to face me in the general election ... as you might know, I have been selected as the PNP’s candidate for Northwest St Elizabeth, so if he is able to defeat me in the local government elections, then he will undermine the basis on which I would want to [be] MP.

“That is the reason for all his bravado and bombastic talk, but the reality on the ground, the empirical evidence, it is saying that the PNP is dominant in the Ipswich division and should retain the division,” added Kilimanjaro.

In a recent interview with The Gleaner, Hutchinson, who is confident that the JLP will increase its current 9-6 majority in the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation, made it clear that the Ipswich division is in his party’s crosshairs.

“We strongly believe that we will take the Ipswich division,” said Hutchinson. “We are doing a lot of work in the division, and we strongly believe the people will reward us with their support.”

As it relates to the wider municipality, Kilimanjaro is confident that Hutchinson’s expectations will come to naught, expressing confidence that the PNP will once again become the majority party in the StEMC.

“Put it this way, based on the groundswell of support we are seeing for the PNP across the country ... . I think we have a very good chance of winning back control of the municipality.”

The Ipswich division, which is being viewed as key to which party will win the StEMC, and St Elizabeth, got some high-profile attention on Tuesday when PNP President Mark Golding visited the division as a part of the effort to energise PNP supporters to go out and vote on February 26; and yesterday when Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie opened the newly renovated Black River Fire Station in Black River, and handed over houses in Slipe and Lancewood in Middle Quarters. Both the prime minister and McKenzie, along with MP Floyd Green, also participated in a ceremony to turn on water in Lancewood.

Like in many political divisions across the island, the electors in St Elizabeth appear to be low on enthusiasm, saying the only time they get any attention from politicians is in the lead up to elections.

“We have been battling terrible road conditions and serious water crisis for years, despite the many promises we have gotten from both sides (PNP and JLP),” said a teacher, who spoke to The Gleaner on condition of anonymity. “Outside of the so-called diehards, I really don’t see a lot of persons voting. People have generally lost faith in these politicians.”

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