- Photo by Dalton Laing
Buchanan

Dalton Laing, Gleaner Writer

Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland:

Riding on the tide of what he says is a sound track record, consultant Paul Buchanan is confident that he has already secured 60 per cent of the delegates' support in Central Westmoreland.

"The people in the constituency believe in my track record. They have seen it, they have analysed it and they are coming over in droves," commented Buchanan. "My focus is how we will win the general election."

He says that his campaign in the selection of candidate for Member of Parliament for Central Westmoreland is to prepare the people for the general election but ideas will be the hallmark of his success.

'Time for a change' syndrome

"You're not going to beat the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) for a fifth term without superior ideas," he noted. "The 'time for a change' syndrome is here, so we have to convince the people with the work we have done and, more importantly, we have to convince people that we have the ideas to take them to another level."

"It is ideas that will secure a fifth term for the PNP; it is the ideas that I have for the sugar industry, [the] Frome [Sugar Factory] in particular, (as well as my suggestion) for a non-partisan Member of Parliament's office that will make a difference."

Buchanan's proposition for the revitalisation of the sugar industry is the floating of a seven-year bond, which he said was done by the Micro Investment Development Agency where he worked as a technical director.

"It will be a $10-year bond and I'm proposing that we use a fund manager that the market respects, a blue chip fund manager," he said. Buchanan explained that it would be a seven-year bond with a seven-year moratorium on the principal.

He added that there would be a prompt interest payment facility which will ensure and underpin the interest to the market and will in turn look to the fund manager for repayment and not the sugar industry.

Mr. Buchanan has given 30 years to politics and is currently a consultant in the Ministry of National Security.

He believes he will be selected as the PNP's candidate in the next general election in Central Westmoeland due to the work he has done in the constituency with Operation Pride as coordinator, the contributions to the Urban Upgrading Programme, known to many as the Zinc Fence Removal Programme, as well as being president of the Reno Football Club.