Thrown into a leadership role after emerging the only winner on his Party’s ticket in 2018, L. Jamale Pringle now faces the next elections with hard-won political acumen and experience.
As Leader of the Opposition, he has faced down the hostility of the Government Bench and the strictures of the House Speaker and earned the respect of his political opponents and peers alike.
In a riveting sitting of the Lower House, this youthful MP proved his mettle and lived his principles, preferring to walk rather than bow to what he perceived as political discrimination. His declaration that he was standing on the “solid ground” of representation won him support not only among his constituents but nationwide.
“Single Pringle,” as he is called with admiration and affection, left a career in teaching to become a successful entrepreneur, and has married the science of business with the art of politics.
He is a man who knows how to get things done – despite not being in government and despite institutional roadblocks. And he has demonstrated this, time and again, in projects he has undertaken in his constituency – even when he has had to go into his own pocket to compensate for the Government’s neglect.
But All Saints East & St. Luke is more than the seat he represents in Parliament; for Pringle it is home, the place where he grew up. His ambition for his people is a future in which this agricultural district develops to its fullest potential, providing not only work for citizens and residents, but economic independence through continued ownership of the land and related businesses.
At the 2019 National Convention, Pringle was selected by Harold Lovell as the Deputy Political Leader of the Party, a position he has grown to define. A shrewd negotiator, he has become known for pouring oil on troubled waters and mending fences. These attributes were on display recently as he headed the Elections Management Committee that oversaw the holding of several Party Primaries.
However, Pringle’s passion is for youth development through economic opportunities, including entertainment and recreation. To this end, he constantly invites young people to reach out for advice, information and encouragement, in the hope of building a new and stronger business class.
In revitalizing the Youth Arm of the Party and galvanizing his peers into political awareness, Pringle is credited with staging the Miss Sunshine Pageant – scheduled to become an annual event on the UPP’s calendar – to a huge and highly appreciative audience in February. In addition, he makes the time to host social gatherings and discussion groups and to appear on the Youth Take-over program on Progressive FM, taking his responsibility as a role model seriously.
Through his businesses, he also supports other Party, community and charitable events, demonstrating both economic leadership and social consciousness.
For many supporters, he represents the face of the next generation of leaders – not only in the UPP, but on the national stage. Accordingly, L. Jamale Pringle continues to stride – not on thin ice, as he was warned – but into a future made better under the governance of the United Progressive Party.
