Big PNP turnout for Lloyd B Smith
Published:Monday | September 12, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
A bumper crowd of People's National Party (PNP) supporters gave Central St James candidate, Lloyd B. Smith, a hero's welcome at his first constituency conference on Saturday at the Cornwall Courts Community Centre in Montego Bay, St James.
Smith, a publisher and political commentator, popularly known as the 'Governor', was visibly shocked by the overwhelming support which saw persons coming out in their numbers to a constituency he has tagged 'Virgin Territory'.
Virgin in the sense that Central St James is one of three new seats added to the existing 60 constituencies by Parliament.
Fired up by the prospect of heading to Gordon House, Smith, an advocate for change, admitted that the decision to leave his comfort zone came about because he became very uncomfortable with what he saw the Government doing to the people of Jamaica.
Sending a clear message to the Bruce Golding administration and the people in his constituency, he said "enough was enough".
"So you have a choice. You must either embrace the Progressive Agenda of the PNP or the oppressive agenda of the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party)," Smith said.
"When I drive around Central St James, all I can see is neglect, neglect, neglect; all I can see is the lack of effective representation, all I can see are a few people who don't look like me and you," he stated, criticising the administration as mere beneficiaries of taxpayers' money.
Unapologetic in his stance, Smith said the Government was neocolonialists, wanting to put Jamaicans back into the cane piece, while they and their friends and relatives live in great houses.
"As descendants of Marcus Mosiah Garvey and Samuel Sharpe, a return to the days of old must not happen," he warned.