Isat Buchanan

Early life Buchanan is a son of Manley Augustus Buchanan, better known as Big Youth, a notable Jamaican deejay, and Joan Porteous, a businesswoman. He attended Meadowbrook High School.

In 1997, Buchanan was convicted in Half Way Tree Resident Magistrates' Court for possession of cocaine, dealing in cocaine, and taking steps to export cocaine. He was sentenced to 21 days' imprisonment and required to pay a $1 million Jamaican dollar fine. He later told The Gleaner that he had been arrested at Norman Manley International Airport in 1996 by the Jamaica Constabulary Force, having been found in possession of drugs which he thought was cash, which he had been given by someone else to deliver to the United States. His Jamaican conviction was expunged from his record in 2014.

He explored a musical career under the name Isat, releasing several songs, including "Unbreakable", "Don't Give Up" (featuring Big Youth and Tafari), and "That's Cool" (featuring Big Youth). He worked for a period as an adjunct lecturer at UWI. In 2017, he applied to become a Justice of the Peace (JP) in Kingston but was rejected in 2019 for not disclosing his previous convictions. Buchanan sued to overturn the decision but in 2024 a judge ruled against him. In June 2020, Buchanan was retained by Vybz Kartel to represent him on an appeal before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC).

In October 2022, a disciplinary committee of the GLC found Buchanan guilty of professional misconduct over remarks he made in November 2020 about the Director of Public Prosecutions, Paula Llewellyn, accusing her of being "shady". In July 2023, he made further "offensive, profane, vulgar, foul, and obscene" remarks about Llewellyn and Delroy Chuck, the Minister of Justice, on a YouTube show. In November 2023, the GLC suspended him from legal practice for two years, fined him $500,000 Jamaican dollars, and ordered him to pay the Council's legal costs of $20,000 Jamaican dollars. Buchanan appealed the suspension to the Court of Appeal as excessive and was granted a stay in December 2023 which permitted him to continue to represent Vybz Kartel before the JCPC. Buchanan was part of the legal team that saw Kartel's original conviction quashed by the JCPC in March 2024 and then saw his client acquitted by the Jamaican Court of Appeal in July 2024.

Political career Buchanan was chair of the People's National Party (PNP) Human Rights Commission until July 2023, when he resigned over the comments he made about the Director of Public Prosecutions. In October 2024, Buchanan was selected to represent the PNP in the constituency of Portland Eastern at the impending general election. His selection was criticised by the PNP's rival political party, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), who were also the incumbents in the seat. In the general election, which took place on 3 September 2025, Buchanan defeated the JLP incumbent Ann-Marie Vaz by 8,361 votes to 8,176.