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Mark Wignall
Thursday, June 07, 2007
In an effort to up the ante on the dangerous games being played in the name of gender politics, we saw recently where the least among those occupying an area once considered sacrosanct was made holiest among the holy. Then, the joke was on us, the spineless ones.
Mark Wignall
Now, Lisa Hanna, former Miss World, an intelligent and articulate young woman who ought to know better, is allowing herself to be caught up in what certainly will be a firestorm of protest in furtherance of PNP president Portia Simpson Miller holding true to the new rules in the gender game.
She is to be foisted on the PNP supporters of South East St Ann because, by implication, four of them who have made themselves available for the one candidate spot - Lenworth Fulton, Bevon Morrison, Sheree Brown-McDonald and Don McDowell - are not seen to have the worth of one Lisa Hanna, stranger to the constituency.
Operating from a fractured base in the leadership of the PNP, the party president had basically two options in solving the problems of filling the candidacy spot for South East St Ann. One, she could have approached it with strength, that is, an exercise of constructive guile where she lures those opposing her into her position and in the end make them feel that they were part of the "decision-making process".
Second, if she chose to yield to the advice of the failed politics of the past, where "my way or the highway" is still floating in the heads of those whom the people have soundly rejected, she would have to bully others into accepting her position. In the end, the latter course was adopted and the party will be the worse off for that exercise of weakness.
Elder statesman in the constituency, Seymour Mullings, has been given no respect in this matter. The people of South East St Ann have been totally sidestepped by the PNP president. By implication, they too are not all that important, except once every five years when the PNP has a certainty that if it places a pretty puss, an ugly dog or a Lisa Hanna, the PNP will always come out in front. To the new PNP leader, the PNP constituents of South East St Ann are wound-up toys, responding only to her turning of the little key.
This time around she could be in for the surprise of her life.
Let us face one fact. Lisa Hanna seems to me to be a good and creditable Jamaican citizen who has a contribution to make, but in the present context one is not so sure if she knows which direction to drive to find South East St Ann.
And of course in all of this we tend to lose sight of the fact that the voters of the constituency who have been so faithful to the PNP over the entire life of the birth of modern politics in this country are seeing that very politics turn around and "diss" them by forcing a UFO into their constituency.
"I am sorry, I don't share your view of Lisa," said an anti-Portia PNP supporter. "She is political fluff pure and simple."
"Certainly," I said, "she must bring something positive to the PNP, nationally and internationally."
"Can't agree with you. The leader is taking advice from a very 'fool-fool' source. If she really wanted to bring healing to our party, she would have insisted that the constituency executive get their act together and initiate the usual selection by constituency delegate vote. But she is so focused on elections, she can't see beyond that."
PNP voters in the constituency are hopping mad that Seymour Mullings has been treated so shabbily by the party leader. They have been brought up on representation, good and faithful representation. And they work only with whom they believe they have had a hand in selecting and electing.
Not only will Lisa be seen as an imported product to the constituency, but just five years ago she was an ardent supporter of the JLP. With that sort of political résumé, it would have been better if she was placed in some other constituency where the people are less judgemental. Add to that her last-minute entry or "foisting" on the PNP faithful in the constituency, and one will see that the PNP president has made one big mess for herself and the party in the wider domain at this crucial time.
I see similarities between this situation and Trafigura. One, sources tell me that senior people in the PNP were unaware of the intention to bring in Lisa Hanna. Soon, however, they will all say they knew and converge around a common story to protect the leader.
Among the four people in the constituency who made themselves available, my choice would have been Lenworth Fulton, who seems to have the most "rounded" qualifications of presence, reach and work in the constituency. Last week, however, Denzil 'Wizzy' McDonald told me that his wife Sheree has the most support of the four in the constituency. Surely, one of these two individuals could have been brought to the fore.
Lisa Hanna's own motives must be questioned. If as she says, she has always had an interest in representational politics, why this last-minute move and not a more measured entrance? Is she allowing herself to be dragged in because someone has convinced her that she can win in South East St Ann? Is she allowing herself to be hauled over the coals and destroyed politically now, just for the sake of political expediency, or is she trying once again to assist "Team Portia"?
Again, let me say that I believe she has a contribution to make to this country and it should be encouraged. Information I have tells me that her focus is on Early Childhood Education. Be that as it may, she ought to be told in no uncertain fashion that she cannot just step in to reap the benefits of the hard work of others in South East St Ann. After all of the efforts of the four contenders and the strident voices of the PNP supporters, all Lisa Hanna has now been mandated to do is drive down to South East St Ann to claim a prize awarded to her by a leader whose next move is anybody's guess.
In the interim, the word I have from the leadership on the ground and the constituents is that South East St Ann will not accept anyone, read, anyone pushed on them by anyone.
The militancy is new to the constituency, but there is a more sinister twist. Some fear that a hangover of a politics of the nasty past may be introduced in the very peaceful constituency in an effort to "pave the way" for the beauty queen. The Lisa Hanna that I know would not want to be associated with that.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
In an effort to up the ante on the dangerous games being played in the name of gender politics, we saw recently where the least among those occupying an area once considered sacrosanct was made holiest among the holy. Then, the joke was on us, the spineless ones.
Mark Wignall
Now, Lisa Hanna, former Miss World, an intelligent and articulate young woman who ought to know better, is allowing herself to be caught up in what certainly will be a firestorm of protest in furtherance of PNP president Portia Simpson Miller holding true to the new rules in the gender game.
She is to be foisted on the PNP supporters of South East St Ann because, by implication, four of them who have made themselves available for the one candidate spot - Lenworth Fulton, Bevon Morrison, Sheree Brown-McDonald and Don McDowell - are not seen to have the worth of one Lisa Hanna, stranger to the constituency.
Operating from a fractured base in the leadership of the PNP, the party president had basically two options in solving the problems of filling the candidacy spot for South East St Ann. One, she could have approached it with strength, that is, an exercise of constructive guile where she lures those opposing her into her position and in the end make them feel that they were part of the "decision-making process".
Second, if she chose to yield to the advice of the failed politics of the past, where "my way or the highway" is still floating in the heads of those whom the people have soundly rejected, she would have to bully others into accepting her position. In the end, the latter course was adopted and the party will be the worse off for that exercise of weakness.
Elder statesman in the constituency, Seymour Mullings, has been given no respect in this matter. The people of South East St Ann have been totally sidestepped by the PNP president. By implication, they too are not all that important, except once every five years when the PNP has a certainty that if it places a pretty puss, an ugly dog or a Lisa Hanna, the PNP will always come out in front. To the new PNP leader, the PNP constituents of South East St Ann are wound-up toys, responding only to her turning of the little key.
This time around she could be in for the surprise of her life.
Let us face one fact. Lisa Hanna seems to me to be a good and creditable Jamaican citizen who has a contribution to make, but in the present context one is not so sure if she knows which direction to drive to find South East St Ann.
And of course in all of this we tend to lose sight of the fact that the voters of the constituency who have been so faithful to the PNP over the entire life of the birth of modern politics in this country are seeing that very politics turn around and "diss" them by forcing a UFO into their constituency.
"I am sorry, I don't share your view of Lisa," said an anti-Portia PNP supporter. "She is political fluff pure and simple."
"Certainly," I said, "she must bring something positive to the PNP, nationally and internationally."
"Can't agree with you. The leader is taking advice from a very 'fool-fool' source. If she really wanted to bring healing to our party, she would have insisted that the constituency executive get their act together and initiate the usual selection by constituency delegate vote. But she is so focused on elections, she can't see beyond that."
PNP voters in the constituency are hopping mad that Seymour Mullings has been treated so shabbily by the party leader. They have been brought up on representation, good and faithful representation. And they work only with whom they believe they have had a hand in selecting and electing.
Not only will Lisa be seen as an imported product to the constituency, but just five years ago she was an ardent supporter of the JLP. With that sort of political résumé, it would have been better if she was placed in some other constituency where the people are less judgemental. Add to that her last-minute entry or "foisting" on the PNP faithful in the constituency, and one will see that the PNP president has made one big mess for herself and the party in the wider domain at this crucial time.
I see similarities between this situation and Trafigura. One, sources tell me that senior people in the PNP were unaware of the intention to bring in Lisa Hanna. Soon, however, they will all say they knew and converge around a common story to protect the leader.
Among the four people in the constituency who made themselves available, my choice would have been Lenworth Fulton, who seems to have the most "rounded" qualifications of presence, reach and work in the constituency. Last week, however, Denzil 'Wizzy' McDonald told me that his wife Sheree has the most support of the four in the constituency. Surely, one of these two individuals could have been brought to the fore.
Lisa Hanna's own motives must be questioned. If as she says, she has always had an interest in representational politics, why this last-minute move and not a more measured entrance? Is she allowing herself to be dragged in because someone has convinced her that she can win in South East St Ann? Is she allowing herself to be hauled over the coals and destroyed politically now, just for the sake of political expediency, or is she trying once again to assist "Team Portia"?
Again, let me say that I believe she has a contribution to make to this country and it should be encouraged. Information I have tells me that her focus is on Early Childhood Education. Be that as it may, she ought to be told in no uncertain fashion that she cannot just step in to reap the benefits of the hard work of others in South East St Ann. After all of the efforts of the four contenders and the strident voices of the PNP supporters, all Lisa Hanna has now been mandated to do is drive down to South East St Ann to claim a prize awarded to her by a leader whose next move is anybody's guess.
In the interim, the word I have from the leadership on the ground and the constituents is that South East St Ann will not accept anyone, read, anyone pushed on them by anyone.
The militancy is new to the constituency, but there is a more sinister twist. Some fear that a hangover of a politics of the nasty past may be introduced in the very peaceful constituency in an effort to "pave the way" for the beauty queen. The Lisa Hanna that I know would not want to be associated with that.
Nuh badda wid dat! nuh badda wid dat, mi a beg yuh? Wan Jamaica, boss! 
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