Russell Hammond

WESTERN BUREAU:

RUSSELL HAMMOND, veteran politician, co-founder and former vice president of the National Democratic Movement has defected to re-join the ranks of the Jamaica Labour Party in Westmoreland.

This latest development comes less than a week after Bruce Golding, former president and co-founder of the NDM, announced that he had returned to the JLP.

In confirming his move to the JLP fold, Russell Hammond told The Gleaner that he would be working with the campaign team of the party in Western Westmoreland.

Vowing to do all in his power to bring home the Western Westmoreland seat for the JLP, Mr. Hammond says he was swayed to join the JLP camp by the party's latest readiness to accept the core principles which Mr. Golding, himself and the NDM have espoused, over the last six years of the NDM.

He expressed the belief that the JLP would put on a fast-track, the principles he and Mr. Golding hold dear :

"The fact that the JLP is accommodating these principles is an opportunity to get these principles further than where we had them within the movement (NDM). In light of this willingness on the part of the JLP, I have therefore committed myself to assisting the JLP, and have extended that to the point where I am campaigning with Mr. Patrick Atkinson (the JLP candidate) in Western Westmoreland."

Criticisms from members of the public or his former colleagues in the NDM will not serve to scare off this veteran politician from his new thrust to help the JLP take home the Western Westmoreland seat, as well as facilitating the opposition to be the vehicle of national change, when the ballots are tallied on the night of October 16.

"The reaction by the people to my new change is more receptive than filled with objections. I am broad-minded enough to know that if you allow every little suspicion that you have to hold you back from getting somewhere, you'll never get anywhere," he said in response to his critics.

This latest stance by Mr. Hammond is in stark contrast to his response to queries by The Gleaner just over a week ago, when he said he would not be returning to the JLP. At that time he also stated that even though he would not be a candidate for the NDM or any other party in the constituency this general election because of "personal constraints linked to his business interests," he would also "not be running for the JLP" or throwing his weight behind the opposition party in the election campaign.

But, even though he started campaigning with Patrick Atkinson, the JLP's candidate for Western Westmoreland, Mr. Hammond is yet to officially resign from the NDM.

General secretary of the NDM, Michael Williams, said the only time he would accept that Mr. Hammond was no longer a member ofthe NDM, was when he sees a resignation letter.

"The NDM does not have a candidate in Western Westmoreland, and this might have led Russell to support the JLP team in that area. I believe Russell would be willing to support any person who would represent the NDM in Western Westmoreland, and since there is none, he has done otherwise," Mr. Williams said.

For his part, Mr. Hammond says he does not believe it is necessary for him to send a resignation to the NDM, since he has "not been active in the organisation for about a year and a half."

"I would like to hear what the NDM has to say on the matter of my linking with the JLP, before even writing a resignation. I don't feel it necessary to write a resignation," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Atkinson, has welcomed the support from Mr. Hammond.

"He is a tremendously popular person in Western Westmoreland, even when he was not with us. He's a son of Westmoreland that has lived well with the people ­ the PNP and JLP. As we 'motorcaded' together after the Nomination proceedings, the reaction to him by the people was exceedingly strong. The people have been glad to see his stance for the JLP," Mr. Atkinson said.

In the last general elections, Mr. Hammond who ran on an NDM ticket in the constituency was believed to have split the JLP votes, since some JLP had defected to the NDM camp with Mr. Hammond. In that elections, the incumbent Dr. Wykeham McNeill received 56 per cent ofthe votes (8,519 ballots) to the JLP's Patrick Williams 21.9 per cent (3,338 votes) and the NDM's Russell Hammond 21.5 per cent (3,285 votes).

Mr. Hammond helped to form the NDM, after a falling out with the JLP in 1996. Prior to that, he contested elections for the JLP camp, in several elections in Westmoreland. He was JLP Member of Parliament for Central Westmoreland between 1983 and 1989. He was, however, not successful in his bid for the Western Westmoreland seat for the JLP in 1989 and 1993.