Aspirants from minor parties lay out plans as 4 line up for nomination
Published:Monday | August 18, 2025 | 12:06 AM
WESTERN BUREAU:
The returning officer for Hanover Eastern, Hermina Bucknor, has confirmed that four people have indicated that they will be seeking to be nominated on Monday as a first step to contest the September 3 general election.
The four are the Jamaica Labour Party’s Dave Brown, the People’s National Party’s Andrea Purkiss, Jordon Cunningham of the United Independent Congress, and Craig Eubanks of the Jamaica Progressive Party.
While Brown and Purkiss have been quite busy on the campaign trail over recent months, Eubanks and Cunningham, seemingly, have been operating under the radar.
In an interview with The Sunday Gleaner, the 22-year-old Cunningham, who operates a marketing company that specialises in affiliate marketing, says his vision is to better the lives of the residents.
“I have come to realise that the country needs a lot of innovation, and I know that I have a lot of revolutionary ideas, and as such, I have decided to get involved in representational politics,” said Cunningham, who lives in Hopewell. “The constituents of Hanover Eastern can expect that I will be focusing a lot on economic empower-ment, especially in the areas of fishing and other informal occu-pational areas.”
According to Cunningham, at present, the residents of Hanover Eastern are now forced to seek employment outside of the constituency, a situation he hopes to change through the development of industries to create local employment opportunities.
“I will have a lot of focus on the youths to help them to realise that staying here in Jamaica, they can help to develop our nation and make it as prosperous as any other country in the world,” he said. “Expect change, expect greatness, and believe that we can make Jamaica great on the world scene in a lot of other ways apart from track and field.”
UNMET NEEDS
Eubanks, a 41-year-old security supervisor in the tourism sector, told The Sunday Gleaner that he is concerned about the many persons who have needs that are not being attended to, and as such, he can make a difference in their lives through representational politics.
Eubanks is a resident of Woodsville in the constituency, where residents made a makeshift structure after the bridge to their community collapsed.
“Some of the needs of the people are simple things like roads, infrastructure, housing, and employment – things that are attainable by government, yet they are lacking,” said Eubanks, adding that no proper representation was taking place.
“I would like the people of Hanover Eastern to understand that a great change is here and that change is coming through the Jamaica Progressive Party, and if they should elect me as their member of parliament, I would not be coming with any promises, but I would be doing, doing, doing,” he said.