Former PNP councillor Milton Miles joins JLP
Published:Friday | November 18, 2022 | 12:07 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
MILTON MILES, a former People’s National Party (PNP) councillor for the Savanna-la-Mar division in Westmoreland, has officially joined the ranks of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
Miles, 68, who had served the division from 2007 to 2016, was formally welcomed into the JLP’s ranks on Sunday during the party’s Westmoreland parish conference, held at Manning’s School in Savanna-la-Mar.
“I have a passion to serve, I am service-oriented and the town of Savanna-la-Mar needs proper service. The municipal corporation under the present leadership is not doing anything to improve the town of Savanna-la-Mar, and I feel that people should be above politics, and I must serve an organisation that will work with the people,” said Miles.
“I decided to cross over to the JLP to see to the improvement of Savanna-la-Mar. I was born and grown in this town, and I must confess that, in my time (as a councillor), I could have done more if I had gotten the support,” Miles added.
“We had 14 PNP councillors and a mayor who served for three terms, and if I had gotten the support I had wanted to help improve the town, I could have done better. I saw a vision where the town can be improved with proper representation from a JLP representative.”
According to Miles, a major factor in his decision to cross over to the JLP was the PNP’s lack of support for the states of emergencies in Westmoreland, which he firmly believes was badly needed to address the issue of crime in the capital and the wider parish.Last November, the initial 14-day SOEs implemented in Westmoreland and six other police divisions across the island elapsed after the Opposition failed to throw its support behind the Government’s push for a three-month extension in the Senate.
“That was a big mistake. It will work once we unite and come together, both JLP and PNP, as well as the chamber of commerce, the Rotary Club and all the service clubs, and the parish development committee. If we come together and work to solve the problem of the monster of crime, it will work,” the former PNP councillor insisted.
“Also, if you look at the market and the town, especially Great George’s Street, then I think we need to do better in Savanna-la-Mar, and I am going to be part of a team to see if we can have things done in the town.”
Miles, who was recently honoured as a community hero in Westmoreland for his contribution to community development in the parish, said he is not seeking to return to representational politics, but that he merely wants to serve the people in his former division.
“Tomorrow it will be trending, ‘Miles gone a Labourite’, but I am here to serve the people. There have been others who gone from PNP to JLP, and from JLP to PNP, because people want to serve. Let us work and dedicate to build a better Westmoreland and a better Jamaica,” he charged.