JAMAICA | Montego Bay’s Triple Strategy: Senate as Political Finishing School

By O. Dave Allen

In politics, there are no coincidences—only calculations. The People’s National Party’s recent pattern in Montego Bay offers a case study in strategic renewal disguised as routine procedure. The fact that all three PNP caretakers for the St. James constituencies—Janice Allen (Central), Dr. Andre Haughton (West Central), and now Allan Bernard (North Western)—have served or are serving in the Senate is not happenstance. It is deliberate political architecture.

1. The Senate as a Leadership Incubator

The Senate has long been the PNP’s 'leadership academy.' From Norman Manley’s day through to Portia Simpson Miller’s rise, it has served as the institutional bridge between activism and statecraft—a proving ground where promising voices gain exposure, discipline, and credibility.

In Montego Bay’s case, the pattern is striking:
- Janice Allen, caretaker for St. James Central, used her Senate experience to sharpen her political profile, mastering parliamentary procedure and policy debate.
- Dr. Andre Haughton, economist and professor, emerged from the Senate as the intellectual anchor for the party’s economic platform in Western Jamaica.
- Allan Bernard, the newest addition, represents the moral and community-based face of the movement—a grounded reformer complementing the academic and managerial strengths of his colleagues.

This triad forms a deliberate mix: intellect, institution, and integrity.

2. The Montego Bay Project

Montego Bay is not just another urban centre—it is the economic and psychological capital of Western Jamaica.

For decades, it has swung like a pendulum between disenchantment and opportunity, its voters fiercely independent yet yearning for credible representation.

The PNP’s decision to empower all three of its Montego Bay caretakers through the Senate reflects a strategic understanding that Western Jamaica will determine the next national mood.

By embedding these caretakers in the machinery of governance, the party ensures that when the next general election comes, its candidates will not be green campaigners but seasoned legislators—men and women who have debated laws, tabled motions, and spoken from the national platform. This is how parties build institutional memory and readiness.

3. The Chang Contrast

Contrast this with the JLP’s local structure. Dr. Horace Chang, after four terms and two ministerial portfolios, has built no political succession plan in St. James North Western. His dominance has been solitary, his governance transactional. The result is stagnation.

Meanwhile, the PNP’s move suggests a long game—grooming a new political generation that fuses intellect with activism. Janice Allen brings political tact and grassroots reach; Dr. Haughton, academic authority; Bernard, moral authenticity.

Together, they represent a reconstruction of political credibility in the West, precisely at a time when the JLP’s Western flank is beginning to fracture under the weight of overcentralization and fatigue.

4. Beyond Patronage: Toward Political Professionalization

By making these appointments, the PNP is signaling that representation must once again be earned, not inherited.

It is a subtle but significant shift from the era when candidacy was dispensed as political patronage.

The Senate, in this model, is not merely a reward—it is a political finishing school, preparing leaders who can navigate both policy and people.

If the party sustains this model—linking Senate exposure to constituency work—it could build the most intellectually coherent and morally persuasive bench in modern Jamaican politics.

5. The Stakes

Montego Bay is the testing ground of Jamaica’s modern experiment with governance. It is here that the contradictions of crime, inequality, and economic exclusion are most visible.

To rebuild trust, parties must produce leaders who can speak to both the boardroom and the back street, the hotel investor and the fisherman.

By aligning Janice Allen, Andre Haughton, and Allan Bernard through senatorial experience, the PNP is quietly constructing that bridge. Whether it holds or collapses will depend not only on their individual performance but on the party’s willingness to let substance outshine symbolism.

The Bottom Line

The simultaneous senatorial elevation of Montego Bay’s three PNP caretakers is not a coincidence—it’s choreography.

It reflects a recognition that Western Jamaica is the new battleground for national legitimacy, and that the path to revival runs through structured, credible, and community-grounded leadership.

If executed well, it may mark the PNP’s first successful attempt in decades to blend intellectual capital with political muscle.

And if Allan Bernard, Janice Allen, and Dr. Andre Haughton rise to the occasion, it will not just be the renewal of a party—it will be the rebirth of Western Jamaica’s political conscience.

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