PNP will get it right

AS THE PNP internal election were underway, I was told by two high-ranking PNP connected persons that there were at least four puppeteers in the PNP supporting Lisa Hanna who were living in the hope that she would win the presidency. For one of them.

The premise was that if she won, she would not be able to hold it more than two years. During those two years, they would grow an anti-Hanna faction, and at the end of it, they would move against her with the objective being placing the little one with the big name within striking distance of the top job.

Well that didn’t quite work out too well. With Mark Golding as PNP president, none of us should expect that he will create a messiah-like leadership in the shape of Michael Manley in 1972. Portia came close to that in what her leadership promised in the early to mid-2000s.

A Lisa Hanna victory would have propelled her to produce a version of herself that would pretend she had the power to displace Andrew Holness without an understanding that PNP unity was the only lubricant that could drive the party machinery towards such a challenge.

As it is now, the PNP’s best bet is to keep low but remain relevant on a narrow range of selected issues. The COVID-19 issue has to be challenged only when Golding is wearing kid gloves. Education delivery in these perilous times can be taken on without fear of cheap politicking.

I think it is safe to say that both political parties have settled on the idea that the Jamaica Labour Party administration has the keys to the store. For now, it would suit the opposition PNP to be silently relevant. Timing is key.

Mark Wignall is a political and public-affairs analyst. Email feedback to columns@ gleanerjm.com and mawigsr@gmail.com.