Keith Duncan, son of the late PNP stalwart Dr D.K. Duncan, has moved to ward off criticism over his appointment as a senator of the governing Jamaica Labour Party, on Thursday declared himself a “free thinker” who is “not bound by any one political organisation”.

Amidst the chastising of many PNP supporters for not following in the party footsteps of his father, as his sisters have done, Duncan said the policies of the governing JLP are aligned with his “dreams and aspirations for our Jamaican people”.

Some of those policies, he said, are inclusive growth, human capital development, and infrastructure development.

“It’s Jamaica first, party affiliation later. I am putting Jamaica first,” he told journalists outside the House of Representatives on Thursday after he was sworn in as one of 13 government senators.

“If I can make my contribution here, this is where I make my contribution. I am a free thinker. I’m an open thinker, [and] I am not bound by any one political institution. I have voted for every political party in my life,” he said.

His late father, Dr D.K. Duncan, served the PNP in several capacities dating back to the 1970s, including national organiser and general secretary and a Cabinet minister under a PNP-led administration. His sister, Patricia Duncan Sutherland, is president of the PNP’s Women’s Movement.

Dr Duncan’s political career spanned 45 years, beginning in the 1960s.

He became a Member of Parliament in 1976, representing the East Central St Andrew constituency, serving until 1983 and later represented Eastern Hanover from 2007 until 2016.

In 1977, at age 36, he was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister of National Mobilisation and Human Resources and served until 1980.

However, the son said that he has been approached “many times” by the country’s two main political parties “for a higher level of service”, and has described it as a “long, hard” decision to accept the appointment to serve in the Upper House of the Jamaican legislature.

But in the end, he said the Government has shown it is fiscally responsible and willing to invest in the people, “so I want to be here to make my contribution” to help Jamaica achieve its potential.

“At this point in time, where Jamaica is close to 60 per debt-to-GDP ratio, where resources will be freed up and become increasingly available for investment in the people, I would like to be here to ensure that I can be a part of and contribute to ensuring that Jamaica increases productivity through investment in our human capital [and] our physical infrastructure,” he said.