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Gathered at the historic site in Spanish Town, St Catherine, where the Emancipation Proclamation was read 187 years ago, the People's National Party (PNP) on Wednesday emphatically declared that Jamaica will soon be freed from what it described as the shackles of the Dr Andrew Holness-led administration.

It was at midnight on August 1, 1838 - August Mawnin - that Governor Sir Lionel Smith read the Emancipation Proclamation on the steps of the portico of the governor's mansion in Spanish Town, marking the end of slavery in Jamaica. With a general election looming, the Mark Golding-led PNP brought its parish meeting to the Old Capital, where speaker after speaker proclaimed that Jamaica is on the verge of being delivered from Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) rule.

"Soon and very soon there is another August Mawnin coming when we will be released from bondage, " Alfred Dawes, the PNP's candidate for St Catherine South East.

Dawes, who is seeking to wrest the seat from the JLP's Robert Miller, urged the party's leadership to count his constituency in the winning column.

"Portmore is coming home to the People's National Party. We have laboured in bondage, where we have some pretender MPs over there," he said.

St Catherine South MP Fitz Jackson said he has been "lonely" in Portmore since 2020, when two of the three seats fell to the JLP.

Jackson said he is confident that Dawes, as well as Raymond Pryce in St Catherine East Central will join him as winners on election day.

"Better days are ahead for the residents and people of Portmore and Jamaica," Jackson said.

Firebrand member Damion Crawford, who is the standard-bearer for St Catherine North West, opened with Dennis Brown's hit single, Revolution, setting the stage for his fiery onslaught on the JLP.

He said some of the critics of the policies being proposed to advance education are persons who "want someone to bade dem dawg and clean dem toilet".

"I am here to ensure Michael Manley's dreams that the street sweeper's son can become a doctor in this country [come true]," Crawford said.