A stern political warning has been issued to Prime Minister Andrew Holness by Opposition Spokesman on Citizen Security and People’s National Party (PNP) candidate for South Manchester, Senator Peter Bunting, who said delaying the pending General Elections will only add to a political “backsiding” from the Jamaican people.
“I have one message for Anju, ‘You can run, but you can’t hide’, and the longer you wait, the bigger the (political) backsiding you going get from the people of this country!” declared Bunting during a fiery address to comrades at a PNP mass meeting at Bull Savannah Primary School in South East St Elizabeth on Friday night.
The meeting followed a road tour by PNP candidate for South East St Elizabeth, Norman Scott, who is also the Mayor of Spanish Town, as well as party President Mark Golding and other PNP officials.
Bunting told the jubilant comrades that the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) appears to be using a strategy to delay the elections, this while stating that the previous national polls in 2020 were called during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The former National Security Minister under the PNP Administration of 2012 to 2016 said after seeing the energy of last week’s crowd at PNP meetings in areas like Alligator Pond in South Manchester, the JLP will lose the upcoming elections.
Bunting said following his canvassing of a few persons, including a water melon vendor in the parish, he said the PNP’s candidate for South West St Elizabeth, Miranda Wellington, who is an educator, appears to be “safe” there. She is expected to face two-term Member of Parliament (MP) and Cabinet Minister, Floyd Green, when the elections are called.
South West St Elizabeth is seen as very important to the outcome of the national polls, as the political party that wins the seat usually forms the next Government.
Bunting also expressed confidence in the chances of Norman Scott in South East St Elizabeth, where his (Scott’s) opponent is also a two-term MP and current State Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, Franklin Witter.
“Scotty (Norman Scott), you doing something right,” Bunting said. “In fact, I think the people are even ahead of us now because we can’t keep up with the crowds and the energy that we are seeing here on the road.”
The Opposition senator vowed to continue campaigning on the roads with both Wellington and Scott until the parliamentary Opposition can form the next Government.
In his closing remarks, Bunting invoked the party’s campaign slogan, ‘Time Come’, to declare that the moment has arrived to supposedly reclaim Jamaica’s “dignity” on the international stage.
Added the politician: “Time come for a prime minister who can get his integrity (statutory declarations) returns certified; time come for a Government that don’t try and tear down the Integrity Commission….”