Lisa Rene Shanti Hanna, the Member of Parliament for South East St Ann, was set to face her toughest political battle today in a face-to-face clash with Paletha Lydia Richards, councillor for the Bensonton Division, for the right to represent the People’s National Party (PNP) in next general elections.
But late yesterday, PNP General Secretary Paul Burke told The Sunday Gleaner that Richards had written to the party indicating that she would not be contesting the selection.
“It could be affirmation based on what one candidate has written to the party, but we are preparing for either,” said Burke.
Minutes later, however, persons close to the Richards camp told our news team that she had not said she would not contest.
“We have a problem with the list and we indicated that we would not be willing to contest the election on that list,” said the source.
A dispute over the voters list had previously caused the selection to be postponed and it appears that the party’s secretariat is determined that the list in place is the one that should be used.
This is the latest twist in a battle which has been acrimonious at best and vitriolic at worst in an intra-party dog-fight for the seat that has never been lost by the PNP (except for the uncontested 1983 snap elections).
Hanna is a second-term MP who has risen from a political nobody to become a Cabinet minister and head of the party’s Region Six, which covers the parishes of St Ann and Trelawny.
She entered the constituency before the 2007 general election as a compromise candidate after a similar battle saw influential Comrades in the constituency, including Richards, councillors Lloyd Garrick (Moneague) and Vinnette Robb-Oddman (Calderwood), call for the removal of then MP Aloun Assamba.
They reportedly wanted Sheree Brown-McDonald, the wife of PNP power broker Denzil ‘Wizzy’ McDonald, to be given the nod to represent the constituency.
The leadership of the PNP stepped in after Assamba walked away and Brown-McDonald was rejected.
Hanna, who was then best known as Miss World 1993, was hand-picked by PNP president Portia Simpson Miller and was backed by the influential former MP, the now-deceased Seymour Mullings, to take charge of the constituency buoyed in the early days by bauxite mining, which provided employment to residents.
Hanna had national appeal but was a newcomer to politics when she won in 2007, defeating the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Peter Fakourie. She polled 7,158 to Fakourie’s 4,461, even as the PNP’s 18 and a half years in power came to an end.
Four years later, the PNP swept the 2011 general election and the region she heads and Hanna polled 8,996 votes to defeat the JLP’s O’Neil Esteen, who grabbed 4,751 votes.
But political storm clouds began to form in the constituency when she expressed dissatisfaction and alleged cost overrun associated with the refurbishing of the Moneague Post Office.
Three of four councillors took her to task and the storm clouds which emerged around that dispute have developed into a full-blown political storm.
Garrick, Richards, and Lambert Weir (Claremont) all objected to Hanna’s continued stewardship in the constituency. They claimed that Hanna announced that $4 million was spent in the constituency for rodent eradication, and demanded to know where the money was spent.
The trio, supported by McDonald, continued to chip at Hanna’s heels, defying the party’s orders to cease and desist from airing internal party issues in the public domain.
Richards threw down the gauntlet at a public meeting and announced that she would challenge Hanna, whose detractors claim that she is arrogant, aloof and talks down to people, among other negatives.
But the woman whose head once wore the prestigious Miss World crown has made it clear that she is ready for the fight, and when the votes are counted at the Frencourt High School this evening, she expects to retain the right to be the PNP’s standard-bearer in the constituency.
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Lisa Hanna was one of the chief ones who worked with the Most Honourable Portia Simpson-Miller,to murder poor Dr Peter Phillips,,,,,,don’t underestimate that young lady as the youths are with her, she is damn smart and is a TOUGH WARRIOR
Met, this report is incorrect. Richards didn’t drop out, she is still in play, but won’t be on site- the celebrity is there and fans are comin 😀
PP
I guess Lisa Hanna will win harr seat agen…..
Disappointed, eh? I guess your online campaign will bear no fruits?
But political storm clouds began to form in the constituency when she expressed dissatisfaction and alleged cost overrun associated with the refurbishing of the Moneague Post Office.
So, despite comments to the contrary, it now appears that Ms. Hanna problems started when she publicly went against pork barrel spending in her constituency, which elicit a backlash from the people accustom to feeding from the trough. Now we have Vinnette Robb-Oddman, Lloyd Garrick, Lydia Richards, and Lambert Weir to go for her jugular using all available smoke screens in an attempt to get rid of her. The paving of the primary school was one such diversionary tactic employed to no avail.
They were successful in the past when the same individuals got rid of MP Aloun Assamba and they were hoping Lisa Hanna would roll over, but alas, they have met their match. Someone with the brains to outfox these imbeciles and the tenacity to push them aside, using their own template.
So Met, what are you going to do now, apart from guessing? May I suggest a more appropriate headline? Something like….”Hanna steamroll over a bunch of Buttos”! BTW, I read elsewhere that the 11-year girl actually died on the bus.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/commentary/20150927/prickly-poles-and-slippery-slopes
Met not running no phucking campaign over no damn party seat :hoax2 .
We campaigning against onu unscrupulous behaviors, while keeping the faith that a reader or too can spread the word that It’s full time to stop voting for a person or party just because dem great grands been doing so, and that it is perfectly alright to voice out pon phuckry.
Hanna can stay right whey she de…time is the master of all things. Gwan step like peacock…watch yu tail feathers :alay
Hi Showa PeePee, We see you trying to pretend you are not a Tribalist, Keep it up.
“WE” can keep on watching cause me hand dem de right a me side and surely not behind me back. Me is a switchblade, so tribal politics you nah see me inna BAYYYYYYYY a nu my fault you use to curry goat wid a finga a boil banana (Met! lol)…dat a tombing food! 😀
My household growing up neva depend pon milk powda, dutty suga or bulga, so no party neva feed me yet! Damn bright :hammer
Showa PeePee reasoning is so poor, by her logic only ppl depending on handouts can be Tribalists. Do better than that.
PhantomPhoenix: Yuh sound angry and bitter as usual. The outcome wasn’t what you had hope, so now you are on the warpath as a angry black woman. Poor ting. You need some Sunday Dagga to sort yuh out and calm your nerves. Mi could help yuh out, but you deh too far. Go to dinner and a movie maybe that might help. :lapar
Me have me king kong, RISING SUN spear fi sakka sakka me out, so I decline- Venomously!
Yes I’m a ANGRY BLACK FEMALE!prideful wid that bumbo to. You want gi me a comrade phuck and me want fi set you pon fire fi see if you light up as bright as the RISING SUN! But first I would cut off you comrade hood and wait till gangrene tek set pon you crotches like labourite green.
I hate tribalist and the hate is off the charts.
You is a fly by night PNP or you wouldn’t be referring to me as no “angry black woman”. Real PNP men no disrespect dem dark skin females. Guess you missed that part during orientation. You just damn exup!
More than 50 percent of the delegates in the constituency boycotted the elections. This is a strong PNP seat, if Lisa ever causes this seat to go to the JLP, the comrades will eat her raw.
Wishful thinking. Lisa won that seat in the last election with over a 4,200 vote margin. Although it is possible, it is highly improbable that she could lose that seat. Yuh agree?
The issue of more than 50 percent of delegates not voting (boycott???) is really a moot issue, since the expected voter turnout was in the 600 range…not 1056! In fact, if all 1059 delegates voted today, her total votes could have been much higher. She only needed another 61 [(1056/2)-468 = 60+1=61]votes to win by a majority.
BTW, how do you know that more than 50% boycott the election? The fact that only 478 voted, doesn’t necessarily translate in 578 boycotting the election. In the normal general election, the participation rate is somewhere between 50 -60%. Your reasoning skills suggest that you are a Labourite ….a real foo-fool Labourite at that.
Chris “Brightman” Tufton lost his bid to represent the JLP in W.C. St. Catherine. Word in the Twitterverse is that he needs to learn humility as he has this air of entitlement and superiority. Just waiting with baited breath for a court challenge to overturn the result, citing irregularities on the voters list.
The same can be said for Damion Crawford. His constituents find him rude and not respectful of elders in the party. I hope for his sake he gets his seat back as I see his fellow PNP supporters on Facebook swearing to beat and trim him.
Lisa Hanna, Dayton Campbell, Patrick Atkinson, Lloyd B. Smith and ‘Shebada’ also are feeling the incumbent backlash. People dem seh is not P.R. run a constituency, it’s hard work and maintaining a presence on the ground during your 4 or 5 year term.
1 DON MI SEY*
LISA HANNA OR DIG A HOLE NOW*
COMRADES UP UP***
Lisa, back on track as the next Prime Minister. All who nuh like it, wi have more than five flights a day now.
carry on comrades when sufferation set in deeper don’t call di ppl weh unno run from the island seh fi send nuh remittance come back a yard. Lisa nuh nave nuh plan suh she plan fi fail, she only reactive… she will maintain di status quo weh unno love suh much … A proactive Damion say change an even show unno the plan him have fi unno pickney future a unno seh him fi gweh caw him naw share up di spoils fi fix taxi and buy block fi unno tack awn pan more room pan unno living quarters. unno is a sad set. Unno will continue to lose unno greatest minds to farrin an continue fi suck salt tru wooden spoon.