Meeks

THE LEADERSHIP of the People's National Party (PNP) has been strongly urged to undertake a comprehensive rebuilding of the party.

Such reform could also mean that the PNP might have to make amendments to its constitution in light of what party chairman Robert Pickersgill calls "far-reaching" recommendations contained in the Meeks Report.

The Brian Meeks Appraisal Committee Report, which was commissioned after the PNP lost the September 2007 general election, was recently reviewed by the officers of the PNP and is to be placed before its National Executive Council on January 20.

"This is a time for healing, reinvention and renewal," the authors of the report say, according to PNP Chairman Robert Pickersgill.

Need for healing

Pickersgill says that Meeks' team unearthed the same sentiment of the need for healing, rebuilding and renewal when they interviewed party workers and officials at all levels.

The Meeks Report, titled 'Building for Jamaica's Future: Unity, Philosophy and Organisation', is set to benefit from a national poll, which has been commissioned by the appraisal team.

Pickersgill describes the report as a "good document," and says "it certainly will help the party".

Donald Buchanan, the party's former general secretary who is overseeing the PNP secretariat, says the report will help the party in the rebuilding process and has pointed out that appraisal reports in the past have always helped the party.

"This is no sort of mouth-water stuff. It is meticulous and scientific work," Buchanan says.

Pressed as to how much of the approximately 40-page report was on the role and performance of party leader Portia Simpson Miller, all Buchanan would say was that "it is a comprehensive document. It speaks to everything."

This is the third such appraisal report commissioned by the nearly 70-year old PNP. The first time the PNP commissioned an appraisal report was after the 1967 general election.

Strategic review

Then, P.J. Patterson led that review team which made various recommendations to the PNP which were implemented. The PNP would win the 1972 and 1976 elections with Michael Manley as leader.

When the PNP was beaten in the 1980 election, the party turned to Pickersgill and asked him to lead a strategic review committee. The PNP took those recommendations on board and as history would have it, the party won the 1989, 1993, 1997 and 2002 general elections.

Buchanan believes that history could soon repeat itself, adding that "the PNP has a history and capacity for renewal."

- D.L.

Areas covered in the Meeks Report