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Things fall apart for PNP |
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Sunday, 28 September 2008 |
KINGSTON – As the 70-year-old People’s National Party (PNP) treads on shaky ground, winner of party’s leadership election Portia Simpson Miller has dissolved the opposition council and promises to roll out a new one before the next sitting of parliament.
Since the elections last Saturday, defeated candidate in the bid for the party leadership Dr. Peter Phillips and Sharon Hay Webster, who lost her vice presidential bid, along with Maxine Henry-Wilson, Dean Peart and Fitz Jackson have resigned as spokespersons.
Dr. Peter Phillips, who was the Leader of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives and Opposition Spokesman on National Security for the party gave up that position, but said he would remain as Member of Parliament for East Central St. Andrew.
Webster resigned from her post as deputy leader of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives.
The resignations have left a void in the party’s opposition council, but according to pundits this also gives Simpson Miller a free hand to appoint the people she believes will best fit into her vision and mission for the PNP moving forward.
The affirmed leader of the PNP said in a release, “the new Council will reflect the thrust of the Parliamentary Opposition to advance the Progressive Agenda for national development.”
However, the state of the PNP as it stands is being called into question since there is still a divide between Simpson Miller and Phillips supporters – a divide that political analysts are saying could send the party into serious crisis.
Simpson Miller, who secured 2,332 votes to Phillips' 1,959, winning by 373 votes, still has major challenges ahead, despite this victory. Those numbers indicate that a significant number of people are dissatisfied with her leadership and were willing to bank on Phillips.
‘No more argument’
Supporters of Simpson Miller say she has not been adequately supported by many party members, some of whom were still bitter at the outcome of the first leadership election that she also won. This was not lost when she gave her victory speech at the National Arena and sounded a warning that she would not wink at dissent from party leaders and members who failed to fall in line.
"There can be no more argument. Portia Simpson Miller is now the president; is now the leader of the People's National Party," she said to loud cheers from supporters inside the National Arena in Kingston, after the election results were declared.
"This time, as I said before, is different from the last time. I am going to be very impatient of anyone who would want to drag the People's National Party down."
Supporters have blamed the election losses on disunity in the party. Simpson Miller said she has tried on several occasions to unite the party despite attempts by some to undermine her leadership. However, supporters of Phillips have argued that they were victimized following Simpson Miller's ascendancy. They also questioned her ability to manage the party and lead it to victory.
Still, she insisted that other party leaders and officials also had a responsibility to bring the party together and charged delegates to hold all leaders accountable for their actions.
"It is now time for all of us to unite and it is time for us to get the party united and remember one person cannot go about unity," she said. "I am willing to work with all who are prepared to work with me to take the Jamaican people out of this misery, so that when an election is called the People's National party can be returned to power."
Simpson Miller backers also took three of the four posts which were up for grabs in the vice presidential race. They are Angella Brown-Burke, Derrick Kellier and Noel Arscott. Dr. Fenton Ferguson was the only supporter of Phillips who secured a vice presidential post.
Dr. Phillips issued a statement which said his resignation was in the interest of party unity, which he said was essential for the party to continue serving the people of Jamaica.
Simpson Miller created history by becoming the country's first woman prime minister and the first woman to head a major political party in Jamaica. She, however, went on to lose the general election in September 2007 to the Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labor Party. She again led the PNP into defeat three months later in the local government elections.
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