Bunting or Brown Burke for GS
THE planned resignation of Julian Robinson as People’s National Party general secretary should be welcome news for the organisation, and there should not be a long search to find a replacement.
Off the bat, the most qualified would be Peter Bunting, now without a seat and possessing the ability and capacity to do what a general secretary should, having played that role before.
If for whatever reason Bunting does not make it, then the PNP has Dr Angela Brown Burke to call upon, as long as she does not take advice from her husband, Paul. Brown Burke is like an offshoot of former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller – close to the people, speaks their language, and educationally well off.
But even before the party gets to that stage, in just over a month we will all see the direction in which it heads.
Popular Lisa Hanna, trained in journalism; and intellectually brilliant Mark Golding, a businessman and lawyer, are the combatants thus far, in the race to decide who becomes president and be tasked with rebuilding the great party that has been reduced to rubble.
If the party is looking at a shortterm solution, then it can insert Hanna, who, according to some polls, is more popular. But if it is now serious about long-term restructuring and refreshing its base then Golding has to be the man.
Hanna would be under more pressure to pass the credentials exam. A former Jamaica Labour Party activist, she tends to turn people off with her style, went very close to losing her seat in the last general election, and might have to answer questions about the high staff turnover at the Ministry of Youth and Culture which she headed from January 2012 to February 2016, if a debate comes around.
Golding has more going for him in terms of substance. He has a safe seat, gets on better with people, and has a landmark legacy – that of being the man behind the decriminalisation of ganja, which has led to some Jamaicans having better criminal records to show.
The vote will be crucial.