By Robert Hart, Staff ReporterJAMAICA LABOUR Party (JLP) chairman Bruce Golding yesterday officially offered himself for the leadership of the party in front of a lion's share of the Opposition party's most influential members.
Senator Golding, who received the official endorsements of no less than 12 JLP Members of Parliament, several councillors and the heads of three affiliate organisations, told a capacity crowd at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston, that a JLP headed by him would offer the nation the kind of leadership needed to take it out of the quagmire of poverty and violence created by the governing People's National Party (PNP).
HURRICANE PNP
Referring to the anticipated arrival of Tropical Storm Charley to Jamaica's shores today, Mr. Golding was adamant that the country is in no position to prolong the 15-year onslaught of "another hurricane" called the PNP.
"Unlike other hurricanes, that one refuses to go away," said Senator Golding, who is the ever more clear front-runner for the leadership of the JLP when current leader Edward Seaga demits office in November.
CRITICAL ISSUES
Yesterday, Mr. Golding provided a vague outline of the policy direction he would follow if given the chance to lead the party and ultimately the country. Among the critical issues he noted were, shifting gear from investing in money to creating real productive investment and creating real, productive jobs; re-engineering the education system; and dealing effectively with crime.
"In this effort we won't be starting from scratch," Senator Golding said. "A considerable amount of analysis and policy development has already been done by the party and is reflected in our most recent manifesto."
He added: "Many useful proposals have been put forward by various task forces and other bodies but which, for lack of will, have never been implemented. And many formidable ideas have been presented by all sorts of people but have been callously ignored."
STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK
"We will take these all on board for they reflect the thinking of the best minds in Jamaica and we will place them within a strategic framework that is guided by the particular priorities that our circumstances dictate."
Scattered across the conference room floor were at least 15 current MPs, including those who spoke, and several past and present JLP parliamentarians and surprisingly the PNP's Paul Burke.
Among those who endorsed Senator Golding were MPs Ernie Smith, St. Aubyn Bartlett, Verna Parchment, Andrew Gallimore, J.C. Hutchinson, Everald Warmington, Clive Mullings and Shahine Robinson. Also speaking were Deputy Leaders James Robertson and Dr. Horace Chang, as well as Generation 2000 (G2K) president Chris Tufton and Young Jamaica president Devon Wint.
Also endorsing Senator Golding were JLP stalwart Percival Broderick, Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) president-designate Ruddy Spencer and vice-president Senator Dwight Nelson, who introduced the man of the hour.
With the true level of Golding's support from the upper echelons of the party now revealed, the aspirations of another BITU vice president, Pearnel Charles, appear to have been further weakened. But yesterday, Mr. Golding said that, if he wins in November, both Mr. Charles and another possible challenger, Deputy Leader Audley Shaw, would still be called on to serve in a future JLP government.
