Battle of the intellects - Parties boasting of brighter councillor candidates

While formal proof of intellectual ability is not an official requirement of political candidates, senior members of both the incumbent People's National Party (PNP) and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) boasted teams of bright, new councillor candidates whom they are expecting to take 'grassroots' representation to another level.

"The Labour Party made an effort to get more qualified people to come forward," said Opposition Senator Arthur Williams. "Take the case for example in South East St. Catherine. I have some young people one of whom has two university degrees."

Deputy Leader in the JLP, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, in an interview with The Sunday Gleaner on Friday, said among the reasons behind the decision to scout more qualified candidates was to bring more respectability to the office of the councillor.

"We are bringing to the table a higher level of performance, more respectability and integrity," said Miss Grange. "We are confident that our candidates in these elections are of a higher standard than the other candidates. We have various professionals, we even have a young scientist and a 23-year-old law student."

Minister of Development and Member of Parliament for South East St. Catherine, Dr. Paul Robertson, pointed out that getting more qualified people to represent at the Local Government level was always a priority of the PNP.

"Well, we have always tried to get qualified people and I can assure you that our team for this election has a blend of youth and maturity," he said. "We have a lot of professional people; lawyers, doctors, engineers, teachers, they are all a part of the team so, I think we have an excellent slate of candidates, many of whom have the potential to go very far in Jamaican politics."

While both parties boast about the academic achievements of their councillor candidates however, Local Government Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, in a recent interview suggested to The Sunday Gleaner that, while it isn't a requirement, it will be an asset for councillor candidates if they had some proof of intellectual ability to participate fully in the Local Government reform.

"We are going to be having training programmes for the councillors because for them to take this reform programme to run with it, they need to understand it and they need to know what they are getting into."

She pointed out however that "We have some young bright candidates right now and certainly they will lift the council, and in terms of performance, I am sure they will be able to take the reform and run with it."