OCHO RIOS, St. Ann:
FOLLOWING THE decision by Verna Parchment, Member of Parliament for North West St. Ann, not to seek re-election, an interesting contest is developing in the constituency over who should become the next Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate.
Political insiders suggest that the contest will be a tussle between businessman and councillor for the Boscobel division in St. Mary, Michael Belnavis, and Trelawny-based attorney-at-law, Marisa Dalrymple-Philbert.
CANDIDATES ACTIVE
Both prospective candidates have been active throughout the constituency in recent weeks, trying to win the support of party delegates.
Efforts to contact Mrs. Dalrymple-Philbert proved futile but Mr. Belnavis admitted he has an interest in the seat.
Mr. Belnavis, who has been operating a business in North West St. Ann for the past 12 years, said he has been approached by many people in the constituency to offer himself as a candidate, and that so far, the reception has been very good in all four divisions.
Mrs. Parchment won the seat in the 2002 General Election, defeating the incumbent and then Local Government Minister, Arnold Bertram, in what was described as a major upset.
Of the two contenders Belnavis is the more popular and more politically mature. He started his Triple Super Save line of supermarkets in Brown's Town in the early 1990s and has been an ardent community worker. He was made charter president of the Kiwanis Club of Brown's Town and has also maintained a close relationship with schools in the constituency over the years.
LOST SEAT
In 1997, he went to North East St. Ann where he unsuccessfully contested the seat in the General Election against the People's National Party's (PNP) Danny Melville.
He took a break from representational politics in 1999 but returned to the political arena in 2003 and won the Boscobel division in the Local Government Elections in western St. Mary, where he is now the sitting councillor.
- Devon Evans
