Mark Spence, Contributor
SIMPSON MILLER, PHILLIPS, PICKERSGILL, DAVIES AND BLYTHE
NO ONE in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) ever dared to challenge Alexander Bustamante as its leader at an annual conference.
He, like Edward Seaga in more recent times, had a gang of five H.C. Cork, L.L. Simmonds, E.R.D. Evans and G.W. Gallimore who resigned from the JLP in 1947 and formed their own temporary party. That was the nearest thing to a challenge faced by Bustamante.
D.C. Tavares went a little
further by challenging Bustamante's wishes in 1960 and carrying out a preliminary mini coup. Bustamante, however, ordered the elections null and void, and took absolute control of the party, assuming the role of leader, chairman, Deputy leader, Secretary and other offices of the executive.
Rose Leon, too, resigned from the Jamaica Labour Party and said she was forming a party. However, her supporters suggested she should contact Bustamante and try to patch up their differences.
To which Bustamante retorted. "Patch up? My party does not have any holes or tears. So there is nothing to patch up." That was the end of that matter.
Norman Manley, too, went through his years as the leader of the People's National Party without once being challenged. When there was a possibility that Ken Hill might have done so, Manley set up an Enquiry to expose Hill's communist credentials and forced him to resign.
Donald Sangster only acted for a while as the JLP's leader but before he could inherit the crown, he fell into a coma and died. His successor, Hugh Shearer, never really wanted the mantle of political leadership, got tired of the bickering and after defeating two internal
challenges, gave it to Seaga.
NO FEEBLE CHALLENGES
Michael Manley defeated Viv Blake, his only rival in the PNP's leadership contest in 1969 and subsequently led the party for 23 years. Only once did he have to demand from the
members their unanimous support and not a partial one. That was in 1981 when a relatively small number of members questioned his leadership. He told them it was either all for him or he would walk away from the party. The rebels "mea culpaed".
During Edward Seaga's term, the crown rested uneasily on his brow. He became the leader when he defeated Wilton Hill, after Frank Phipps and
Ian Ramsay who had declared interest, backed off. Seaga threatened to resign on a number of occasions, and was challenged once at annual conference for the office by Mike Henry.
Bruce Golding, who is
succeeding him, is now in a
one-man race after Pearnel Charles gave in to the inevitable. Barring unknown problems, he should be the next leader of the Jamaica Labour Party.
Now, P.J. Patterson has been the president of the People's National Party and prime
minister of Jamaica for thirteen years. He won this dual prize when Michael Manley retired because of illness and he soundly defeated Portia Simpson in the electoral contest. He has never been challenged since.
He will be giving up both offices, some time or the other, and there are now five persons chomping at the bit, to succeed him. These are not feeble challenges as was the case when Shearer gave up the de facto leadership in 1974. This time, two of the five Peter Phillips and Omar Davies have already presented their campaign manifestos and officially organised their campaign teams.
Portia Simpson Miller has some of the members of the campaign team she mobilised in her contest with Patterson in 1992. Her campaign is still low-key but already there are the signs she is repeating the former strategy of aiming her primary appeal nationally. This strategy includes holding public meetings in the major capitals, ending with a mass meeting in Half-Way Tree. It is, of course, a good strategy to pursue as her popular strength is based on the building up of energy on public platforms. She is also being accused of using the women's movement to assist in propelling her to national popularity, and 'mashing it up' by discarding its middle-class members.
PROFESSIONAL TEAMS IN PLACE
Both Peter Phillips and Omar Davies have put professional teams in place to plan and implement their campaigns. Phillips needs to have more success with the Kingfish programme. He also needs to fulfil the promise to bring in the leading drug
traffickers, and the corrupt policemen. His main problem now, however, is the spate of murders which have neither rhyme nor reason and which some of his supporters believe are being orchestrated. They also believe that Douglas Manley and his son Norman were targeted by gunmen on the night before the vice-presidential vote in an attempt to embarrass Phillips.
Davies must be feeling good with the review of the economy by the governor of the Bank of Jamaica last week. That inflation is being controlled again and that the economy is recovering from the trauma of 'Ivan' should give him confidence and please the reported big financiers who are bankrolling his candidacy for the presidency.
MOBILISING SUPPORT
Karl Blythe has time on his hands to mobilise the support he needs in his campaign. And Simpson Miller's 'Team Portia' should examine the figures where the votes last Sunday are concerned. It is clear that all her delegates gave their votes to Blythe, while all of Blythe's did not back her.
This leads me to the political pundits who have been making predictions based on their
personal wishes. None of them, except for D.K. Duncan, understand the political culture of the PNP. What matters in the final analysis will be what the
influences are which affect the views of the delegates who will choose their leader when Patterson steps down.
Pickersgill, for example, says he will make up his mind if he should throw his hat in the ring after today's meeting of the National Executive Council. Since defeating Phillips for the office of chairman some years ago, he has been enjoying the pleasure of not having a contest each year. Patterson, on the other hand, had Paul Burke as a nuisance value while he was chairman in the 1980s. Burke challenged him every year between 1983 and 1987. Burke said then that no candidate in the PNP should feel he or she has a God-given right to office. He did not contest the office in 1988 because as he said then, "The PNP is going into national general elections and it must not appear that there is a division in the ranks". If Burke is still of his previous view, he might well run against Pickersgill today. Remember, he received 864 votes for the office of vice-president last Sunday.
NOT A POPULARITY CONTEST
Simpson Miller is also taking a risk today in persuading Phillip Paulwell to run against Maxine Henry-Wilson for the office of deputy chairman. Paulwell has lost his political sheen since his blunders some years ago. PNP delegates have long memories.
In the final analysis, however, this is not a popularity contest. A lot of horse trading will be taking place. There are the delegates who have been in Patterson's camp who have already jumped ship. Others are watching to see where the wind will blow. Some can be influenced by the offer of senatorial office. Others, if they are not interested in seeking elective office, will give their support for the promise of the chairmanship of one of the plum statutory agencies.
What will make the coming months really interesting to political watchers is who will stay the long haul without committing political blunders. This week, Patterson told Gleaner editors that he will not be leaving this side of the political year which ends in September. It is therefore not a Veronica Campbell race.
Incidentally, too, he is a
traditionalist, and like his predecessors Norman and Michael Manley, he will not be giving any indication, privately or
publicly, as to which of the candidates he prefers. What he has done is to inform them that until there is a clear vacancy, campaigning must be a part-time thing. Their priorities must
be their ministerial work, Parliamentary duties, and servicing their constituencies.
In the meanwhile, serious PNP delegates and supporters are hoping that some of the candidates will drop out. For with so many of them, the party is in danger of being splintered by quarrels when tempers get short.
