Phillips is damaged goods, but needs to help rebuild consensus – Smith
“I think for the time being, Phillips should stay there as party leader, move away from the position of Opposition leader, and concentrate on building back some kind of consensus in the party before he demits full office.”
IN THE wake of a massive electoral wipeout for the People’s National Party (PNP) last Thursday in western Jamaica, where the party failed to secure a single seat in the county of Cornwall, two former parliamentarians are calling for all voices to be heard in selecting a new leader as Dr Peter Phillips rides off into the sunset.
In the 2016 election, the PNP had secured seven of the 16 seats up for grabs in the west – three of three in Westmoreland, one of two in Hanover, one of five in St James, one of two in Trelawny, and one of four in St Elizabeth. Last Thursday, it watched as the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) swept all 16 seats in a 49-14 blowout in the race to Gordon House.
Former St James Central Member of Parliament Lloyd B. Smith told The Sunday Gleaner that the politically battered Phillips should recuse himself from the duties of leader of the Opposition in the new Parliament and show his loyalty to the party in the rebuilding process before departing.
Smith, who also served as a deputy House speaker, says the 82-year-old political party should take stock at the crossroads as Phillips has communicated his intention to resign as PNP president and retire from representational politics. However, he said that he would remain as leader of the
Opposition until a successor is found.
Phillips will be the first PNP president to not take the reins of government unlike his four predecessors –
Norman Manley,
Michael Manley,
P.J. Patterson and
Portia Simpson Miller.
“The party is going through an interregnum, so what I would suggest, for now, is that one of the [other] members of parliament be made to take over the role of leader of the Opposition, “Smith told The Sunday Gleaner.
WOUNDS STILL FRESH
Smith said that the party was still hurting from the bruising leadership battle last year, which has been made worse with last week’s hammering, and as such, should not immediately engage in another presidential election as the wounds are still fresh. “I would not suggest that there should be any run-off, right now,” Smith said. “I think for the time being, Phillips should stay there as party leader, move away from the position of
Opposition leader, and concentrate on building back some kind of consensus in the party before he demits full office,” the respected publisher said.
“He is wounded. He is damaged goods. He can’t stay there forever, but for now, he should show his commitment to the party by ensuring that when he makes that final exit, the party does have some amount of structure in place in terms of a leadership to continue without him,” Smith added.
Last Friday, Phillips indicated that he had asked the party’s National Executive Council to begin the process to elect a new president.
CHOOSING A SUCCESSOR
Former PNP Vice-President Dr Karl Blythe believes that all members of the party should have a say in the appointment of Phillips’ successor.
“We are not handing down anything to anybody. They must get out there, they must put their case forward and the delegates – which should now include all members of the party, even if we must hold the elections parish by parish or by our regional structure – have a chance to elect the party president. That’s the way it has to go,” Blythe told The Sunday Gleaner.
Blythe, who served four consecutive parliamentary terms from 1989 to 2007 as the member of parliament for Westmoreland Central, and who had put himself forward in the leadership race after Patterson’s exit, said he has no interest in the post at the moment.
“I am not interested in it, but in selecting leadership in the party, we should never depart from our constitution and our principles. When the delegates have spoken, we must accept their decision and move forward together,” Blythe advised.
Phillips was unanimously backed as president of the PNP following the retirement of Portia Simpson Miller after a one-seat loss to the JLP in the 2016 polls.
However, Phillips had to fend off a leadership challenge last September from Peter Bunting, who failed to retain his Manchester Central seat for a fourth term last Thursday, losing out to a political neophyte.