JLP's George Moodie faces rejection in Angels division
Published:Friday | May 6, 2022 | 12:53 PM
Ruddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
Sidelined by St Catherine Central Member of Parliament Olivia 'Babsy' Grange to contest the Ensom City division as a second-term municipal councillor, George Moodie is now facing more rejection.
A number of placard-bearing delegates from the Angels division, where Moodie has been given the nod to do battle against sitting two-term People's National Party (PNP) councillor Patricia Harris, are resolute that they will not support his candidacy in the upcoming local government elections.
The delegates and workers, who staged the protest on Thursday while Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie was touring housing developments in the division, declared that they are settled on Hawthorne Thompson, aka 'Thommo', who, after two terms will not be contesting the Sydenham division because of an alleged fallout with Member of Parliament Dr Andrew Wheatley.
"We need a councillor [and] they bring in somebody who we don't want. We don't want Moodie we want Thompson. He applied some years ago and has been on the ground with us and now we hear that the party is going with Moodie, so what about Mr Thompson? If it is Moodie, no vote no work," declared a spokesperson for the group.
"We have no mood for Moodie, Thommo we want. If ah nuh Thommo no vote. We have decided not to go against Thommo so they need to address the issue. If we don't have a say to choose who we want our finger will not dip in the ink," another delegate added.
This is the second St Catherine division where the process of selecting councillor candidates for the ruling Jamaica Labour Party has become a major issue.
Recently, sitting Troja division councillor William Cyttal was given marching orders by the party, which led to his defection to the PNP, but not before berating the labour party's selection process which he described as undemocratic.
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