By John Myers Jr., Staff Reporter
EDWARD SEAGA, outgoing leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), and Dr. Ken Baugh, chairman of the party's Oversight Committee, were among those whom the Pearnel Charles campaign team wants off the delegates list, party Chairman Bruce Golding has alleged.
At a meeting with supporters at the Stony Hill HEART Academy in St. Andrew last night, Mr. Golding said that the contention about the delegates list for the party's leadership election was "more absurd" than anybody could have perceived.
"Included in the list of 1,400 is the name of Dr. Ken Baugh and to crown it all, included in the list that they have gone to court to have removed is the Most Honourable Edward Phillip George Seaga," Mr. Golding announced, to thunderous applause from the packed room.
Other prominent members of the party whose names Mr. Golding said the Charles campaign team wants off the list include Clive Mullings, Member of Parliament (MP) for West Central St. James; Senator Ruddy Spencer, the new president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) and MP for South East Clarendon; and Christopher Tufton, president of the JLP affiliate group, Generation 2000, as well as a number of Councillors.
Mr. Golding said it was his view that there was an agenda at work and that the court injunction taken out by the Charles' campaign team, which prevented the leadership race from taking place yesterday was just a smoke screen for a deeper underlying issue.
"What I have been asked to accept and agree to has not had much to do with any delegates list," he said. "I didn't get the impression that the delegates list was really the big problem."
Mr. Golding said it was evident that there was support for the court action by segments within the JLP and warned that a crisis could emerge.
DIVIDED
He said the court action and the postponement of the JLP's annual conference had hurt the party's image. Mr. Golding however noted that his campaign has not been deterred by what he said were attempts to derail his candidacy, adding that the Charles team was only delaying the inevitable.
Mr. Golding said he was uncertain of when the conference will be held, saying his legal team was already prepared to go to court on Wednesday when the seven-day injunction by the Supreme Court to delay the election of a new party leader will expire.
Mr. Charles and Mr. Golding are vying to replace Mr. Seaga as leader of the JLP. The race however, has been marred by smear tactics, culminating with Mr. Charles taking the party to court over the allegation that the voters' list was rigged. Mr. Golding has denied the charge.
