Chang contemplates JLP chairmanship

Clamour for party top post continues

Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer

As support mounts for Derrick Smith to be the next chairman of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), he has sought to allay misgivings about his health.

Meanwhile, Dr Horace Chang has stressed that he is in talks with the leadership of the party before deciding whether or not to throw his hat in the ring.

Among prominent members who have acknowledged that support for Smith was growing within the upper echelons of the party are former JLP deputy leader, Edmund Bartlett, noted attorney and party stalwart Harold Brady, and Daryl Vaz, a former deputy treasurer.

Vaz told The Sunday Gleaner he was backing Smith, arguing that his level head and steady hands could help to unite the party in the wake of a publicity nightmare after former chairman Mike Henry was excluded from the shadow Cabinet and open protest from his Central Clarendon constituency executive.

Smith will also be tasked with galvanising the party machinery in time for the local-government polls, due by March, after it was chucked out of government by the People's National Party in a loss that left the Labourites with only a third of parliamentary seats.

Stressing that Smith was not a close friend, Vaz told The Sunday Gleaner that Smith's reputation for staying above the fray of the party's factional rifts over the past 25 years bode well for the future.

"He is bold, but always neutral, unlike the other person," he said, in clear reference to Chang.

While Smith has expressed a willingness to accept the position, Chang is still unwilling to divulge his plans.

"I will not comment on it one way or the other at this time," he said when asked whether he was still interested in the chairmanship. "I have shared confidence with the leader of the party and I wouldn't want to speak publicly on the issue just yet," asserted Chang.

Chang told The Sunday Gleaner that he was also engaged in confidential discussions with Smith and other senior JLP members, and promised to speak this week following the conclusion of the talks.

"I am not commenting on that situation at all. We are going through some internal discussions, and I told Derrick I wouldn't comment on it publicly because we have a lot of things reviewing," said Chang.

With Dr Christopher Tufton, the deputy leader for Area Council Four, losing the South West St Elizabeth seat in the December 29 general election, prominent party insiders believe Chang and Bartlett - two veterans who won their seats - should concentrate on rebuilding support in the area council.

tip-top shape

Smith told The Sunday Gleaner that since 2009, he has been in tip-top shape.

"All my doctors - my general doctors, my cardiologist, my ophthalmologist, my dentist - have all given me a clean bill of health," said Smith. "I have had no health problems since then."

Smith, who has diabetes, said he has been "slavishly" following the instructions of his doctors.

"As I have said, I am having absolutely no problem," he added.

Citing health concerns, then Prime Minister Bruce Golding had taken away the national security portfolio from Smith nine months in office in May 2008.

Smith acknowledged that soundings among JLP colleagues indicate increasing support since he was first approached to chair the party.

"Yes, since it became known that I was asked by some influential persons in the party and this became public knowledge, I have been getting encouragement by some surprising sources within the party," he disclosed.

"I have also been making some calls myself, and they have all been very favourable, so in a nutshell, I would say that right now I am on track to get myself nominated whenever (nominations) are reopened," said Smith.

Smith's statement contradicted early reports in some sections of the media that nominations had been reopened. He said it could be reopened as early as next week.