JAMAICA LABOUR Party (JLP) leader Edward Seaga confirmed yesterday that the party was in discussions with prison doctor Raymoth Notice, for him to contest the East Central St. Catherine seat in the next general elections.
The seat is currently held by Minister of National Security and Justice K.D. Knight, Dr. Notice's prison service boss.
"Dr. Notice is in discussions (with the JLP), but I wouldn't want to pre-empt anything, because there is a procedure in the party, so let us wait until the party's procedure has been completed," Mr. Seaga told The Gleaner yesterday.
Dr. Notice told The Gleaner that the regulations governing the Services Commission did not allow him to make his candidacy public, as he would have to give up his job. He said that he would make a more definitive response after the JLP's selection process was concluded. He said, however, that the party had given him the go ahead to start working in the constituency.
He told The Gleaner on Friday that on several occasions since 1998 he had been approached by the National Democratic Movement (NDM) as well as supporters of the PNP in sections of St. Catherine. However, he said: "The JLP appears to be making a real difference towards rescuing the country, although it still needs to examine the way it deals with internal differences."
He said he felt that what was happening in the prison system was symptomatic of what is happening in the country and that he could make a difference. He attended yesterday's JLP retreat at the Stony Hill HEART Academy.
Formerly attached to the St. Catherine Adult Correctional Centre, Dr. Notice was responsible for blowing the lid on the mass beatings of more than 300 prisoners at the institution last May. He testified at the subsequent inquiry of the horrors the prisoners endured over two-days during which they were battered by warders and soldiers, and of the unsanitary conditions inside the prisons.
