Nationwide News understands that the resignation of Dwayne Vaz as Deputy Spokesman on Roads and Works is the early move in what’s expected to be a long race to elect the next leader of the 88-year-old People’s National Party, PNP.
It is widely expected that Mark Golding will face a challenge for the post of President, when the PNP puts the leadership issue to a vote at its annual conference in September 2027.
The main challenge to Golding is expected to come from MP for North West St. Catherine, Damion Crawford.
More in this report from George Davis.
The PNP’s loss to Holness’ JLP in the General Election held on September 3, 2025, had a discombobulating effect on many in the Mark Golding-led party.
And over ten months since the defeat, equilibrium continues to elude those who were certain ‘Markie G’ would lead the orange takeover of Jamaica House.
Our sources tell us that since Holness completed his triple last September, there has been a growing sentiment inside the PNP that Mark Golding missed his chance to lead the country and must make way for a new comrade leader.
And it’s on the back of that discontent that Damion Crawford has been quietly building a coalition that his supporters hope will design and execute a successful tilt at the PNP presidency come September next year.
Our sources say Crawford, who in recent years has been cast by the PNP as the ‘hype-man-in-chief’ wherever a comrade needs a boost at a political meeting during election season, is ready to shed that image and relinquish that role.
Crawford, we are told, can count on the support of at least 12 of the 28 MPs on the Opposition benches.
We’ve been told that his growing support has spooked the Golding camp.
And that’s what we’ve been told contributed to the decision by Central Westmoreland MP, Dwayne Vaz, to remove himself from the slate of Deputy Opposition Spokespersons.
Vaz is a key ally of Damion Crawford.
The PNP issued a terse statement saying Vaz relinquished his duties as Deputy Spokesman on Roads and Works to focus on constituency responsibilities.
But it’s understood that Vaz expected to be promoted to the job of Spokesman on Roads and Works following the resignation of Richard Azan.
Azan had come under fire inside the PNP for failing to highlight what the PNP views as the shortcomings of portfolio Minister, Robert Morgan.
Vaz is understood to have been told by Golding that he would not be promoted and that his time was best spent focusing on his constituency.
That we understand was what prompted Vaz to walk away.
Vaz’s allies say the second-term MP was victimized.
They say Mark Golding would never promote him to the full spokesman role, as doing so would give a Crawford ally a national platform to speak on issues.
On the weekend there was a flurry of activity on PNP platforms across social media, with the looming Crawford/Golding battle and the attendant collateral damage being the main topic of discussion.
That activity was fed by a story carried by BOJ TV that Vaz would be challenging a Golding ally, Collin Hitchman, for the leadership of the PNP’s Region Six.
That declaration has prompted a flurry of criticism of Vaz by some comrades who are upset at what they say is his attempt to destabilize a region that has regained its lustre as a bastion of PNP support under the guidance of Hitchman.
