Comrades desperate to see the PNP back in power pour into National Arena
Published:Sunday | September 18, 2022 | 1:31 PM
Hundreds of jubilant Comrades have poured onto the grounds of the National Arena in St Andrew for the 84th annual conference of the People's National Party (PNP), although some have noted that the numbers are not yet reflecting pre-pandemic levels.
It is the first in-person conference since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seventy-three-year-old Godfrey White told The Gleaner that he is desperate to see the Mark Golding-led opposition party return to power, calling the Andrew Holness-led administration the purveyor of poverty.
"I cannot buy food under this yah government yah," said the elderly man clad in an orange jumpsuit littered with pictures of PNP stalwarts.
"This prime minister is the worst of all to ever rule Jamaica," he added.
He was backed up by 54-year-old Eugenie Brown of Mount Pleasant, Portland, who has said that she is unable to purchase "even chicken back".
A recent RJR/GLEANER-commissioned Don Anderson poll found that the PNP's strongest support is among older people aged 45 to 55, who accounted for 25 per cent of the party's backers. But even in that category, the party trails the Jamaica Labour Party by four percentage points.
The two supporters who spoke with The Gleaner said that they will go to the grave supporting the party.
At the same time, gyrating young Comrades, scores of whom converged before a large screen on the outside of the arena enjoying the customary liquor and a smoke, have said that they are willing to back Golding in the next parliamentary elections.
They say that it is their hope that the trailing leader can muster enough support to pull the party out of the political wilderness.
"A Lisa [Hanna] mi seh still. The people them seh Brogad suh we affi seh Lisa but mi a go give Mark the support still, Aunty. A deh suh it deh," a 28-year-old man, who gave his name as Kante, from Trelawny said.
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