No sanction for JLP workers fronting for Wright

WESTERN BUREAU:

Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) General Secretary Dr Horace Chang says no action will be taken against party workers who opt to continue supporting George Wright, the scandal-scarred Westmoreland Central member of parliament (MP) who has been ditched by Belmont Road.

Wright was sidelined from the JLP’s parliamentary caucus and later quit the party after public outrage at accusations that he was the man seen in an April viral video pummelling a woman with his fists and a stool. The political representative has neither confirmed nor denied the allegation.

“He is the sitting member of parliament and therefore the people who worked with him in the campaign are likely to go to him. He is not locked away,” Chang said in an interview with The Gleaner on Tuesday.

“I can’t sanction people for going to the MP ... . I don’t operate with that kind of authority,” added Chang.

Wright and his partner Taniesha Singh both lodged reports of assault to the police early April but did not cooperate with investigators.

The case is closed.

Opposition legislators have bristled at Wright, now an independent, being seated on their side of Parliament. Wright has said that he will continue to support the policies and programmes of the JLP – evidence the Opposition has used to suggest that he has only technically disavowed his Labourite credentials.

Wright’s declared commitment to the Labour Party has been viewed in some circles as proof that he might bide his time until the heat over the assault scandal subsides.

Chang said that as an independent, Wright might attract a wider cross section of voters. But post-Independence realities show that third-party or independent candidates have not fared well in Jamaica’s political culture, where voters generally side with the JLP or PNP.

“I suspect that there will be people who worked with him, some as workers, supporters, and some are just regular citizens, will continue to work with him,” the JLP general secretary said.

“He is not a charismatic platform politician, but he is a person who gets around in the constituency which is why he got elected.”

In his first interview since the controversy, Wright told The Sunday Gleaner that JLP supporters were still manning his operations in the constituency and would be supporting him as an independent.

That admission seemed not to be a concern for Chang.

“When an MP is elected, he is supposed to represent the whole constituency so although he is now in an independent role, there might be personalities from both PNP and JLP who would naturally give their support,” stated Chang.

Quizzed on the current make-up of the JLP machinery in Westmoreland Central, the party’s general secretary confirmed that Councillor Dawnette Foster of the Cornwall Mountain division will act as constituency chairman until the next general election.