Another PNP newcomer vows to send 'Uncle Sam' into political retirement

Armed with what she describes as a genuine love for the people and an unshakeable faith in God, Jacqueline Taylor-O'Gilvie believes she has the ammunition to do what no one else has been able to do in 35 years: defeat Karl Samuda in a general election.

But Samuda, the wily Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) representative, who has defeated all and sundry he has faced in the polls since entering representational politics in 1980, is mostly amused by his latest challenger.

"The election of a candidate against me is an uneventful occurrence," said Samuda as he reacted to the latest People's National Party opponent to threaten to evict him from the North Central St Andrew seat he has held since 1989.

"It is typical of every candidate who has ever run against me since 1989 - the first real contest we have had after 1980 - that they were going to send me into retirement.

"I have been there for 35 years, and it has not occurred. This new candidate will be no different. The results are predictable, and that's basically it," said a confident Samuda.

But Taylor-O'Gilvie is confident that she is the perfect person to slay the political giant.

"I'm not perturbed. All is well," Taylor-O'Gilvie told The Gleaner.

"My thing of getting into the constituency is that I am the people's choice for St Andrew North Central, and for too long, because of all the things that have been happening in the constituency, the people are fed up, and they said, 'Listen, this time we need a new leader'.

"They are saying that our undisputed champion has never lost a battle, and so the Lord has placed a woman after His own heart to defeat who the world sees as a success - as a giant in the land. But our God who sees us as His people have made us the giants," said the veteran educator.

working to bring unity

Taylor-O'Gilvie said she has been working in the constituency for some time trying to bring some unity to the people.

"Because for far too long there has been too much crime and violence in the constituency, particularly the inner-city communities."

She charged that persons in the constituency have been unwilling to forgive those who they believe might have wronged them and that this is the root cause of the crime in these communities.

"And until we can bridge and forge and bring back the family units together, then you don't need the Ministry of National Security. I am a faithful woman, a woman of God, and I believe it will take God to do all of this," declared Taylor-O'Gilvie.

The political neophyte could really need a miracle of biblical proportions if she is to wrest the seat from Samuda, who beat the PNP's Leanne Philips by 2,305 votes in the last general election.

- Gary Spaulding contributed to this story.