Amos returns in third bid to flip St Catherine NW
Published:Friday | August 22, 2025 | 12:13 AM
After narrowly losing in the 2020 general election, retired policeman Newton Amos is once again vying to win the long-held People’s National Party (PNP) seat of St Catherine North Western for the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) – this time with a renewed sense of confidence and purpose.
Amos, a native of Mount Rosser in Ewarton, says his roots in the constituency run deep.
“It’s the parish of my birth. My parents are buried here. I have a home here, I have a business here, and I have family here, so I am tied to the constituency,” he said.
Despite those ties, Amos has faced two defeats in his bid to represent the constituency: first in 2016 against longtime Member of Parliament (MP) Robert Pickersgill and again in 2020 when he lost to Hugh Graham by just 148 votes.
But speaking with The Gleaner while on the campaign trail, Amos, who served as a cop for more than four decades, insisted that he remained undaunted.
“The PNP has been dominant here for over 30 years, yet the needs of the constituents have not been met. The constituency is in degradation at every level. Infrastructure such as roads, bridges, clinics, schools are in disrepair. So it’s a question of hope that the people are now ready to vote for the right kind of representation after no upliftment under the PNP,” he said.
This time, Amos will face off with the PNP’s Damion Crawford for the seat. He admits that the task is a huge one, but he is committed to the place he holds fondly in his heart.
“Once elected, I am starting with the low-hanging fruits, and they are low-hanging not because they will be easy but because of the demand of the constituents. So within my first 100 days, I will be moving to address issues with poor water supply and the bad state of our roads, lighting, and the environment. Every household I enter, the people are asking about roads, so I will be lobbying strongly for that to be addressed with immediacy.
“As a boy, I used to carry water from the springs, so we have water here, and in these modern times, we must make use of our natural resources. One of my disappointments is the state of the Linstead Market, where I grew up seeing my family selling their produce. It was clean. Now, the market is smelly because garbage is not moved in a sustained manner. Things like this must change, and I want to be the agent to bring about that change.”
And Amos says that he is well aware that the young people need hope, and he has plans to retrofit community centres into facilities with technology as their focus and offering training in conjunction with the HEART/NSTA Trust.
“I want to bring back pride and dignity for the people in this constituency. I want to engage the youth so they don’t turn to crime, so I will be working with several organisations to play my part in inculcating discipline with the community centres as focal points. It’s a big task, but I am willing, and the people are demanding it.”
In 2016, Amos polled 6,047 votes to Pickersgill’s 7,104 while in 2020, he caused nervous moments polling, 5,223 votes to Graham’s 5,371.