Joan Gordon-Webley brushes off ‘loser’ tag

After five consecutive defeats at the polls, many politicians would have long thrown in the towel. However, Joan Gordon-Webley isn’t built that way.

Despite her rivals’ taunts, the veteran politician insists she is no loser, and is now eyeing what she hopes will be a triumphant return to Parliament when Jamaicans go to the polls on September 3.

Gordon-Webley, the People’s National Party (PNP) standard-bearer for St Andrew West Rural, is squaring off against the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Juliet Cuthbert-Flynn, who has held the seat since 2016.

Gordon-Webley first entered Gordon House at just 28 years old, winning St Andrew East Rural for the JLP in the violent 1980 general election. She was re-elected in 1983 when the PNP boycotted the polls, but by 1989, she was out of Parliament. Her political journey since then has seen party switches – from the JLP, to the National Democratic Movement, and finally to the PNP in 2015 – punctuated by defeats at the polls.

Still, she remains undeterred.

“I may be a born loser in the eyes of my opponents, but I am a born winner in my sight,” she told The Gleaner.

For Gordon-Webley, real victories are not measured in votes but in the lives she has touched over decades of service.

“So, in my own head, and in the people who I have helped, I can’t say I have lost. But I would not be telling the truth if I said I wasn’t disappointed, but that has never stopped me,” she said.

She insists setbacks have never kept her down, stressing that every defeat has only strengthened her resolve.

“My gain is that every time I am able to pull myself up by my boot strings, so to speak, and continue. People is my business, that is what I want to do, and that will never stop me. I keep working in each constituency even after I have lost the election. My children will tell you about wrapping hundreds of Christmas gifts, for example, when they are on holidays. I keep working, even if I am not the MP,” she explained.

Her candidacy in St Andrew West Rural, she says, came after much persuasion from residents.

“I did not choose West Rural St Andrew; it chose me. There was a time when I said I am not gonna run again, but politics is what I like,” she said.

“I listen to people talk about how dirty it is, but any profession you go into, if you are dirty, you will carry the dirt. If you are not, then you carry the good things,” she added.

Now, she has spent years working across the four divisions – Red Hills, Lawrence Tavern, Brandon Hill, and Stony Hill – hoping to rally the support of the more than 41,000 registered voters.

History, however, is not on her side. The PNP last captured the seat in 2011 when Paul Buchanan edged out Andrew Gallimore by 237 votes. But in 2016, Cuthbert-Flynn unseated Buchanan by over 2,000 votes, and four years later retained the seat with 8,658 ballots to the PNP’s Krystal Tomlinson’s 5,550.

Despite those numbers, Gordon-Webley insists the party machinery is ready and “fully focussed on bringing the constituency to the PNP”.

“I would not say we are 100 per cent united because there are still people who believe their people should have been selected,” she admitted.

For her, the real issue is representation. She argues that the constituency has been neglected under Cuthbert-Flynn, pointing to closed health centres, run-down community facilities, and unexplored opportunities in eco-tourism and agriculture.

“My constituents can’t point to any innovative thing done in nine years. I have lots of ideas to bring to fruition. I have a great team around me, business people in the area are calling me, ready to hit the ground when we win the seat,” she said.

Armed with decades of political experience and a renewed sense of purpose, Gordon-Webley believes her persistence and vision make her the right choice for St Andrew West Rural.

“September 3 will be a good day,” she said. “The people will speak and they will say it’s time for the constituency to have good representation.”

karen.madden@gleanerjm.com