From left, Charles and Samuda
Omar Anderson, Gleaner Writer
KARL SAMUDA, general secretary of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), has called for unity within the organisation, noting that a threatened court action to stop next week's election of a new party leader will hurt the JLP if executed.
He also called for better management of party internal affairs.
Addressing reporters at a press conference at the party's Belmont Road headquarters on Friday, Mr. Samuda said a threat by leadership contender Pearnel Charles to file an injunction, could affect the party's unity.
"I think it would do tremendous damage to our party," he warned, "especially when we need to unite the party more than ever before; at a time when the focus must not be on personalities within the party, but on the policies that will guide us over the next few years, and the policies of the PNP that have brought destruction to so many areas of national life."
DISCOMFORT WITH THE LIST
Mr. Charles has been strident about his discomfort with the delegates list to be used in the election of a new party leader. He is charging that the list is not authentic.
But last Friday, Mr. Samuda said besides the delegates list, Mr. Charles has been adamant in seeking the conference's postponement.
"The veiled threat of carrying the party to court for reasons we have been hearing, would in my opinion, be a defining moment for the party and for those who pursue that action," the JLP general secretary said.
Following Hurricane Ivan's passage, Mr. Charles suggested the postponement of the party's annual conference because of what he said was the inconvenience it could pose to delegates wishing to attend.
Last week, Director of Elections Danville Walker, wrote the Jamaica Labour Party outlining the guidelines under which the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) will conduct the election on the party's behalf. Mr. Walker said the two contenders must sign off on the list or, failing that, the executives of the 60 constituencies must verify the list.
After the JLP outlined difficulties in meeting the two criteria, Mr. Walker later entered into an understanding with the party that allowed the secretariat to verify the list.
Last Friday, Mr. Samuda said that, barring the injunction which Mr. Charles is threatening to file, the conference would still be held, even if Mr. Charles decides not to sign off on the delegates list.
BURIAL OF ILL-FEELINGS
Meanwhile, Mr. Samuda said he expected a burial of ill-feelings as soon as the question of party leadership is settled.
"I sincerely hope that at the end of this conference, we will be able to hold hands, unite in a genuine way, because we all need each other," he said. "We need to work with each other. Washing our dirty linen in public is the most destructive thing a party can ever engage in, and we must stop it."
