Mitchell, Crawford looking to the hills
Published:Tuesday | August 19, 2025 | 12:08 AMJovan Johnson/Senior Staff Reporter
The fight for Manchester Central is shaping up to be a battle for the hills of Bellefield, a historic People’s National Party (PNP) fortress that saw its dominance challenged in 2020.
Both the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Rhoda Moy Crawford, who won the seat in 2020, and her PNP challenger, Donovan Mitchell, are making the area a central focus of their campaigns following their official nominations on Monday for the September 3 general election.
In past elections, Bellefield delivered for the PNP margins of 848 in 2002, 610 in 2007, and 963 in 2011, all key to wiping out leads the JLP built up in more competitive divisions. But cracks began to show by 2016, and by 2020 the margin had shrunk to just 320, the PNP’s lowest tally in Bellefield in nearly two decades.
For Crawford, the 37-year-old who stunned the political establishment almost five years ago by unseating PNP heavyweight Peter Bunting, the narrowing gap in the PNP’s heartland is proof her party is making inroads.
“Like in 2020 when the boxes were being counted and they were saying, ‘Don’t worry, the Bellefield boxes have not yet come,’ and they were so disappointed. In the last election, I was able to significantly close the gap from 800-plus to 300,” she said yesterday. “I know I am the one that can look to the hills of Bellefield.”
Bunting’s defeat was perhaps foretold, as residents of Ginger Hall in the Bellefield Division accused him of ignoring them and not heeding former MP John Junor’s warning that he should “look to the hills”, a reference to the loyalist terrain.
Mitchell, a son of the soil from Davyton in the Bellefield Division, is confident of reclaiming lost ground.
“I don’t underestimate my opponent ... . If the prime minister comes, we will treat him the same way,” said Mitchell, the mayor of Mandeville and councillor for the Royal Flat Division. “We have put in the work, it’s just waiting now on the 3rd of September, when we will seal everything.”
INTERNAL ISSUES RECTIFIED
However, the PNP, buoyed by winning all four local government divisions in the constituency – including snatching Knockpatrick from the JLP – during the February 2024 local government elections, insists it has rectified the internal issues that led to its 2020 loss.
“All those are behind us. This is one united PNP in Central Manchester,” declared Mitchell.
He also said “there was no falling out” with Bunting, who is running in nearby Manchester Southern.
Councillor for the Bellefield Division, Mario Mitchell, echoed this confidence, saying the area “will deliver more than is expected for the PNP”.
“We are confident that this election will probably be the highest in terms of PNP votes from the Bellefield Division, which is critical to the PNP base in Central Manchester,” he said.
The campaign themes are already sharpened, with Mitchell saying his focus will include youth unemployment, water storage and distribution in high-elevation communities like Bellefield, and better health infrastructure.
Crawford, meanwhile, is running on her record, which she claims makes her one of the best representatives in the constituency’s history.
“This campaign is even much better, because now the people saw what I promised, I’ve delivered on those promises. Delivered even more. We have an even larger support base,” she said, after filing her papers.
She highlighted what she called a record number of road repairs, the distribution of nearly 500 water tanks, and over $30 million spent on education programmes.
“No concern. Zero,” she said, when asked if she was concerned about reports that influential businessman Kenneth ‘Skeng Don’ Black was back in the fold of the PNP. Black was spotted among the rallying Comrades yesterday.
DEEP ROOTS
Crawford’s aunt, Princess Beverley Faulkner, insisted the former MP will be ushered into a second term on her deep roots in the constituency and community trust.
“She delivers on her promises. The schoolchildren and the parents are overjoyed with Rhoda as their MP because she has helped significantly with their back-to-school books and bags; the water tanks, overwhelmingly grateful because they don’t have any water and she gives them water as well,” she said.
Crawford said her campaign has added a director of security to help manage risks on election day, noting, “We’re seeing some elements that we didn’t see in 2020 … to look at some of the polling stations that could be problematic.”
Earlier, Mayor Mitchell said his campaign was focused on issues, not intimidation, as he rejected claims that alleged thugs were targeting JLP posters.
Supporters on both sides were animated on Monday as they partied in the streets and marched with their respective camps along Main Street in Mandeville to the nomination centre, all seemingly sure of victory, though there is only one seat in Gordon House.
Eighty-six-year-old businessman and former parliamentarian Calvin Lyn admitted he did not take part in the last general election campaign, a hint of the troubles that plagued the PNP’s organisation and believed to have contributed to Bunting’s departure.
“Me never campaign 2020; won’t tell you why,” said the funeral home operator, who added a warning: “Dem nuh fi fass wid Lyn. Mi wi sen duppy pon dem.”
Other PNP supporters raised concerns about the partisan distribution of resources and inadequate road and water infrastructure.
But JLP backers rejected suggestions that Crawford has not performed enough to be re-elected.
“All a dem streetlight weh you see ... all a dem road weh yuh see fix, a she. Nutten nuh guh suh. She work all ‘bout,” said Anthony Howell, a 54-year-old Labourite.
“Dem never put a water [system] up a Bellefield, a Labourite come put a water ting; and every time dem talking about Bellefield,” Howell added.
Both sides are projecting margins of at least 2,000 votes. The PNP has won the majority of elections since the seat was first contested in 1976.