Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

McGill

If it were horse racing and MikeHenry and Dr. Neil McGill were the only charges lined up for the derby, bookmakers would be offering odds of 1-9 for Henry to win. Simply put, he would have to fall into a huge hole to lose.

McGill, of the People’s National Party (PNP), is digging such a hole for the elderly Henry, of the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP), but he knows no matter how skilfully he does it, Henry might find ways to evade it. Both men are contesting the Central Clarendon seat for which Henry has been the Member of Parliament (MP) since 1980.

On August 27, constituents will vote for their next MP and Dr. McGill has acknowledged that he has started as an underdog.

“I don’t mind the label. The truth is that one must be respectful of one’s strength. Henry has been there for 27 years. That is no mean feat by whatever means. Whatever he did he certainly has perfected it, and I go there with the awareness that it is not an easy task, but knowing fully well that all great dynasties must come to an end,” he tells The Sunday Gleaner.

Central Clarendon, which includes May Pen, Denbigh, Farm, Sevens, Treadlight and Effortville, was first contested as a parliamentary seat in 1976. Then, O. D. Ramtallie won the seat for the pnp, beating Henry by 884 votes. That was the first and the last time the PNP tasted victory there. Henry returned in 1980 and turned the tables on Ramtallie, beating him on a canter – 3,475 votes.

Comparing raw numbers

In 1989, Donna Scott-Bhoorasingh mounted a strong challenge, but fell short by 482 votes. Henry increased his margin to 1,626 votes in 1993, and further extended it to 2,746 in the 1997 superstakes.

Looking at the raw numbers, not many punters would be inclined to put their money on the McGill charge. The medical doctor, though, is backing himself to create a big upset and send the 73-year-old publisher into political retirement.

“I am a numbers person. I know them; I sleep them; I live them and I dream them,” McGill says.

Despite being in the constituency for only six months as caretaker,he has already worked out his plans to beat Henry.

“If you look at them [the numbers] grossly, then you get cold feet,” he says.

McGill says he plans to use good organisation skills to wipe out 1,000 of of Henry’s votes; “greater personal capital” to take away another 1,000 and, he says, with a clean electoral system, the skulduggery, which normally takes place in voting in the constituency, should diminish. And, add the Portia factor to that list.

“You cannot deny that this present party leader has taken on to herself a presence that none of us can explain ... that is bonus for me,” Dr. McGill says. “The truth is that I am very confident knowing fully well what my opponent’s strengths are. It is an uphill task; it is by no means easy, but it is not insurmountable.”

Currently MP for Western St. Mary, McGill says he has decided to return to Clarendon because he is a son of that soil.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com