Confident Patmore predicts easy PNP win in Trelawny South

WESTERN BUREAU:

HAVING SERVED as a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), and an Independent representative at the municipal level, businessman Paul Patmore, who will be representing Trelawny South on the People’s National Party (PNP) ticket in the impending general election, says he is equipped to be the best member of parliament the constituency has ever seen.

Patmore, who was speaking at the PNP’s parish meeting in Albert Town Square on Wednesday night, will be challenging incumbent MP, the JLP’s Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, whom he served with as a councillor when he represented that party in the Trelawny Municipal Corporation.

“This MP that you will be voting in a few months, a few days from now, is gonna be the best representative that South Trelawny ever have,” said Patmore, before going into extensive plans to address the poor road infrastructure, a long-standing water problem; and steps to improve the lives of farmers in what is predominantly yam country.

As it relates to water, Patmore said the current Government has no plans to properly address the water issues in places like Trelawny South, saying instead of creating proper systems, they are instead issuing black tanks.

“The JLP has no plan for water, so this election for them is a black tank election. They are going around distributing black tanks,” said Patmore, who said the PNP will be re-opening the Green Town Water Supply Scheme in the constituency and will be seeking answers as to what has become of the money that was granted for the Quassi River Water Project in Freeman’s Hall, which has been a recurring promise from back in the 1970s.

As it relates to agriculture, especially yam farming, Patmore said better days are ahead, as he will be spearheading the formation of a yam farmers association, which will streamline the sector to protect the farmers and create the scope for them to get profitable returns.

“We are going to start our first yam farmers association in south Trelawny. Yam is the only product a man a sell, and the man who a come fe buy a tell you how much him a buy it fah. The farmers in south Trelawny are suffering, you need proper representation and that is why we are presenting you with the People’s National Party, because we know what the people want.”

The issue of roads has long been a concern for Patmore, and residents of the constituency have credited him with fixing roads with his own money in his capacity as a private businessman.

“A nuh lie him a tell. Him fix many roads out of him own pocket, including some roads that were closed for over 20 to 3o years; that is why so many people love him” said Freeman’s Hall resident Dawn Smith. “People caa wait fe Labour Day to see which roads him going to fix with his own money … it is also the same thing with water, during drought him truck water to people free of cost.”

In giving his take on the roads in south Trelawny, Patmore said they are easily the worse roads in Jamaica and is hampering the capacity for development.

“We have the worse set of roads in the island. There was a road from Joe Hut to Freeman’s Hall which was blocked for some 30 years, and on Labour Day, Paul Patmore and the citizens of south Trelawny open that road. That is the type of leadership I will be bringing to south Trelawny,” said Patmore.

Patmore said once the roads are improved, he is looking to create a tourism product out of the rivers and caves in the area, which falls in the Cockpit Country, saying the constituency has the capacity to create a vibrant eco-tourism product.

In describing his stint in the JLP as wasted time, Patmore said there was no cohesive plan under Dalrymple-Philibert, whom he said was lacking in substance and leadership.

“Every time such lady (Dalrymple-Philibert) comes on a stage, she always mentions that Paul Patmore was a part of them ... she is not lying, I was a part of them at one time,” conceded Patmore. “I don’t want you to treat this meeting as how we used to treat their meeting because we had a candidate who did nothing, so when we go to meeting we did not have anything to talk about, we never had no plan, so one of the things we had to do was roast a cow and give the people some Jancro rum fe drink and tell dem she blow horn.”

However, while the PNP lost all four seats in south Trelawny in the last local government election, Patmore is confident that there will be a complete reversal in the upcoming general election.

“South Trelawny is the only constituency where the PNP lost all four divisions in the last local government election, and today I can tell you that the PNP is leading in south Trelawny in all polls … not only PNP poll ... every poll that the JLP do in south Trelawny, shows that Paul Patmore is widening the margin day by day,” he said.