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Buchanan

Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

DONALD BUCHANAN'S sojourn in active politics comes to an end today.

He should hand over the reins of People's National Party (PNP) general secretary to either Peter Bunting or D.K. Duncan.

Buchanan has been general secretary since October 16, 2006, when Colin Campbell resigned in the wake of a scandal.

Information surfaced Friday that Dr Duncan was withdrawing from the race. A source close to Dr Duncan's camp said that he was pulling out for two reasons.

First, the source said, Dr Duncan believed the National Executive Council (NEC) should discuss Brian Meeks' post-election appraisal committee report before holding any election for general secretary. Second, Dr Duncan was of the view that an election at this time would harm party unity.

Dr Duncan, however, has dismissed those suggestions. His daughter, Imani Duncan-Waite, says he intends to serve as an interim general secretary and then hand over to a younger person.

She says Dr Duncan is running because he believes he would be the best person to serve as general secretary, should Prime Minister Bruce Golding, whose party majority is being challenged in the court, decide to call a snap election or a series of by-elections.

Bunting the favourite

Meanwhile, Bunting, the former investment banker, is considered by party insiders to be the favourite in the two-man race. This is one of the key items on the agenda of the PNP's NEC meeting.

The NEC will meet today at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

Buchanan resigned as PNP general secretary on December 31, after having received the party-commissioned Meeks appraisal report as to what caused the PNP to lose the September 3, 2007, General Election.

Buchanan says his departure has nothing to do with the contents of the report. Despite having resigned, he has stayed on to run the party's secretariat. Party sources say that his stay could have been longer if some members of the PNP, loyal to Portia Simpson Miller, had succeeded in getting the NEC meeting postponed.

A native of Pedro Plains, St. Elizabeth, Buchanan has been a member of the PNP for 50 years. He has been a minister of government and a four-time MP for the South West St. Elizabeth constituency.

As Buchanan prepares to board the goodbye train, Dr Duncan and Bunting are shaping up to run the PNP's affairs from Old Hope road.

Persons in the PNP have said that Bunting has been campaigning long and hard for the job of general secretary. Dr Duncan, on the other hand, has been late in starting, but is believed to be a super organiser.

Duncan's experience

The 66-year-old Duncan was the driving force behind Finance Minister Omar Davies' failed 'Campaign For Prosperity' for the PNP presidency. A fiery socialist of the 1970s, Dr Duncan is a former government minister and a two-term general secretary of the party. He served between 1974 and 1977, and then between 1979 and 1983. Duncan was not challenged on either occasion for the job.

This time around, Bunting is standing in his way. The Central Manchester member of parliament (MP) returned to representational politics shortly before the September 3 election. Prior to that, he had been MP for South East Clarendon between 1993 and 1997, but left to pursue his investment-banking business.

Bunting says that he intends to be the "number three or number four batsman in the PNP order", an indication that he has greater political ambitions.

With approximately 300 delegates waiting to cast their votes, the outgoing general secretary has made it clear what is expected of his successor: "Undivided attention and to be single-minded in purpose in the execution of the duties of general secretary."

The man to emulate in this regard, Buchanan says, is Dr Paul Robertson, who, he says, expertly aided a transformation period in the party between 1982 and 1989 as general secretary.