Dawn Ritch, Contributor
MRS. PORTIA Simpson Miller, Dr. Omar Davies, Dr. Peter Phillips, Dr. Karl Blythe, Mr. Bobby Pickersgill and Mr. Paul Burke all want to become president of the People's National Party. I suppose they will say that this is democracy in action. But I don't know why the PNP brand of democracy always has to be such a bumpy ride.
The country itself is sinking into deeper public disorder, as everybody is allowed to exercise their democratic right to create mayhem without hindrance. And in the party itself things seems no different. How can a party running in what is not yet a republic have six candidates who want to lead it? Under the Westminster model, we might have two or three hopefuls in each party, but not half dozen. This is the recipe for a huge waste of time.
INTERNAL CAMP
Nobody in the PNP can agree to back anybody to succeed the Most Honourable. The matter assumes some urgency because it is being suggested in some quarters that Mr. P. J. Patterson is to resign from the office of Prime Minister next year. Who succeeds him has therefore become a matter of great moment. Dr. Peter Phillips has slipped from being front-runner, and been succeeded by Dr. Omar Davies. But the two men draw support from the same internal camp, and having two candidates for the same post has thrown it in a quandary. I told a member of this camp last weekend he had better make sure that in the end he supports the person that Mrs. Simpson Miller will want in her Cabinet. She is of course the only candidate among them who enjoys huge national credibility. For all the obvious reasons she is not the choice of the camp that supports Drs. Phillips and Davies. Since Dr. Karl Blythe's support in the party is less rarefied than that of these two so-called "intellectuals", it will most likely go to Mrs. Simpson Miller in the event that he should withdraw.
The candidacy of Dr. Omar Davies is the most dangerous political development in the history of the country. A man who has not only freely admitted but boasted about using the resources of the island as Minister of Finance to help win a general election for his political party cannot become its prime minister. That would be tantamount to enshrining recklessness as the operating principle of governance. The less said about Dr. Phillips the better. He has had a long time and a clear field to establish himself by acclamation, and has failed to do so. In any event neither of them can ascend to the presidency of the People's National Party without making an accommodation with Mrs. Simpson Miller. And had she done so it would be one of them running, not two.
If Mrs. Simpson Miller were to reach an accommodation with anybody, it would be Bobby Pickersgill. As a minister of government he has a graceful manner with the general public, and requires that the officers around him be diligent and tactful. He also has a record of service. Mr. Pickersgill was a devoted assistant to Michael Manley before the former actually entered representational politics. He was president of the PNPYO for several years. He is also the longest serving chairman of the PNP, over 13 years. Even in earning the sobriquet "Mr. Wrong Jungle", Mr. Pickersgill was in fact making the point that a leader must lead from the front. So one could expect a change from Patterson's present mode of operation.
Mr. Paul Burke's sojourn as a young radical in the PNPYO seems not to have ended. By his own admission he has not been able to get a visa to the United States and seems to be forever fighting investigations and persecutions. So he clearly won't do. But in fairness to Mr. Burke he seems to appreciate this himself, because he does not seek the post of prime minister. The $64 million question is, of course, whether or not Mrs. Simpson Miller is inclined to make any accommodations with any of her rivals. The country sees her as a future prime minister, regardless of any contrary views among her peers. It seems to me that if she becomes president of the PNP, they are assured of a fifth term. To turn her down is turning down a fifth term, and I'd like to see even a tired old party like the PNP do that. Hence the reason for the six camps in the People's National Party.
MOST HONOURABLE
They're like horses taken to water, but they just can't drink. This is unlikely to resolve itself anytime soon. So it hardly seems possible that the Most Honourable will be able to retire from office next year, no matter how much he might wish to do so. A desire that I believe is very feeble indeed, regardless of his protestations.
The longer the PNP succession process is, the more scope for rancour there will be. Already K. D. Knight, Maxine Henry-Wilson and Wykeham McNeill have been unable to conceal their very public distaste for her. This alone, has won Mrs. Simpson Miller more plaudits because it helped to define her even more strongly in the minds of many in the country. If I were in the PNP, I would tell them to get over it.
People from the University of the West Indies have asked me if it's true that she is Bustamante's outside child. This can only mean that they want to follow her till they die.
Therefore I took a bet proposed by somebody in the Drs. Phillips and Davies camp. He said that when she becomes prime minister, he bets she won't last a term because she's not up to the job. I took it happily. After all Patterson has lasted over 14 years and he was never up to the job. If she ever wins the presidency of the PNP she might be in office for 20 years.
We have no term limits. Indeed she'd be able to set up a dynasty if she wanted. No less than Bustamante, who like her, had no children. Many might find that preferable to a muddled democracy.
