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The ball is in Portia's court
published: Sunday | September 24, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
Dawn Ritch
In order for the People's National Party (PNP) to win an unprecedented fifth term, it needs to go through an obvious renewal. This is all the more necessary since there's been anything but an orderly transition of power.
The PNP has been in power for 17 years, so long that the majority of Jamaicans have known no other. Nobody could, upon sober reflection, conclude that the administrations of either Michael Manley or P.J. Patterson was a national success. The litany of alarming statistics available bears this out. Indeed, that is a matter impatient of debate.
They've won successive elections because of their party machinery and timing. They time the election with the business of government.
The latter is not a fool-proof system. The then prime minister Edward Seaga tried that after a sterling performance in restoring the country following Hurricane Gilbert. But the country just turned its back on him. It didn't even matter that after the economic fall-out of the earlier Michael Manley regime, he'd restored the country as a whole to a sustained growth path.
There was just something about Edward Seaga that didn't sit well with them. No amount of overseas public relations and advertising advice could change that. Nor any opinion polls no matter how frequently taken. There was just no spin that could be put on that ball.
On the other hand Portia Simpson Miller needs no spin, but she has yet to put her stamp upon the PNP. Indeed she's had rather a leisurely approach to both that, and putting her stamp on the government itself. The irony is of course that all of Jamaica is Portia territory.
Mrs. Simpson Miller continues to be in fine fettle. It is as though she's convinced that time is completely on her side, and wishes to savour every move. If so, it is not a masculine approach to governance. Were a man in power, everybody who should have been fired would have already gone, clutching only a pay slip and a retraining manual. And not a soul would have thought him bloody-minded for doing it.
Tired old horses
But the fact remains that no political party can renew itself unless people see new faces, instead of the same tired old horses. Mrs. Simpson Miller's horse runs at a gallop, but can anybody else in her party keep up? This is something that only the party president herself can demonstrate.
She'll have to show us therefore what she has in the line-up of candidates who will represent the PNP. Never in the history of Jamaican politics has the quality of the candidate line-up been more important. Mrs. Simpson Miller's popularity has held steady at 60 per cent no matter what. But that doesn't change the fact that four successive PNP wins would make any voter jaundiced.
Those registered to vote were asked whom they'd like to see form the next government. The result was 48.5 per cent to the PNP, and 44.1 per cent to the JLP.
When those registered to vote were also asked whom they were likely to vote for, the PNP's lead was reduced to a minuscule 0.4 per cent.
These results demonstrate that the sentiment in the country is towards the PNP, but due entirely to the popularity of its new president. The party itself, while still in the lead, is desperately in need of renewal. Mrs. Simpson Miller's enduring popularity alone will not carry the PNP into office.
The hierarchy of the PNP traduced her reputation during the internal elections. In any event she still won. What became obviously dented as a result was the party, and not her.
But that rancorous election armed the middle class and the Jamaica Labour Party with the ammunition that she has n
published: Sunday | September 24, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
Dawn Ritch
In order for the People's National Party (PNP) to win an unprecedented fifth term, it needs to go through an obvious renewal. This is all the more necessary since there's been anything but an orderly transition of power.
The PNP has been in power for 17 years, so long that the majority of Jamaicans have known no other. Nobody could, upon sober reflection, conclude that the administrations of either Michael Manley or P.J. Patterson was a national success. The litany of alarming statistics available bears this out. Indeed, that is a matter impatient of debate.
They've won successive elections because of their party machinery and timing. They time the election with the business of government.
The latter is not a fool-proof system. The then prime minister Edward Seaga tried that after a sterling performance in restoring the country following Hurricane Gilbert. But the country just turned its back on him. It didn't even matter that after the economic fall-out of the earlier Michael Manley regime, he'd restored the country as a whole to a sustained growth path.
There was just something about Edward Seaga that didn't sit well with them. No amount of overseas public relations and advertising advice could change that. Nor any opinion polls no matter how frequently taken. There was just no spin that could be put on that ball.
On the other hand Portia Simpson Miller needs no spin, but she has yet to put her stamp upon the PNP. Indeed she's had rather a leisurely approach to both that, and putting her stamp on the government itself. The irony is of course that all of Jamaica is Portia territory.
Mrs. Simpson Miller continues to be in fine fettle. It is as though she's convinced that time is completely on her side, and wishes to savour every move. If so, it is not a masculine approach to governance. Were a man in power, everybody who should have been fired would have already gone, clutching only a pay slip and a retraining manual. And not a soul would have thought him bloody-minded for doing it.
Tired old horses
But the fact remains that no political party can renew itself unless people see new faces, instead of the same tired old horses. Mrs. Simpson Miller's horse runs at a gallop, but can anybody else in her party keep up? This is something that only the party president herself can demonstrate.
She'll have to show us therefore what she has in the line-up of candidates who will represent the PNP. Never in the history of Jamaican politics has the quality of the candidate line-up been more important. Mrs. Simpson Miller's popularity has held steady at 60 per cent no matter what. But that doesn't change the fact that four successive PNP wins would make any voter jaundiced.
Those registered to vote were asked whom they'd like to see form the next government. The result was 48.5 per cent to the PNP, and 44.1 per cent to the JLP.
When those registered to vote were also asked whom they were likely to vote for, the PNP's lead was reduced to a minuscule 0.4 per cent.
These results demonstrate that the sentiment in the country is towards the PNP, but due entirely to the popularity of its new president. The party itself, while still in the lead, is desperately in need of renewal. Mrs. Simpson Miller's enduring popularity alone will not carry the PNP into office.
The hierarchy of the PNP traduced her reputation during the internal elections. In any event she still won. What became obviously dented as a result was the party, and not her.
But that rancorous election armed the middle class and the Jamaica Labour Party with the ammunition that she has n
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>PNP president Portia Simpson Miller (2nd left) celebrates with her new vice-presidents from left, Dr Peter Phillips, Dr Fenton Ferguson, Angela Brown-Burke and Derrick Kellier shortly after they were elected at yesterday's session of the party's 68th annual conference inside the National Arena in Kingston. (Photo: Bryan Cummings) </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>The former prime minister was addressing hundreds of wildly cheering delegates who transformed the National Arena in Kingston into a sea of orange for yesterday's private session of the PNP's 68th annual conference.
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