By Lloyd Williams, Senior Associate EditorBRUCE GOLDING, former chairman, may be back in the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) sooner than you think. That is if the JLP wins the upcoming general election.
And he would have his dignity and his independence intact and not suffer the least bit of loss of face in the re-entry process.
And it would probably work wonders for both the Seaga lovers and the JLP lovers who believe the JLP would do much better at the polls if it jettisoned Mr. Seaga or at least keep him in the background.
None other than Edward Seaga, the JLP leader himself, Mr. Golding's former mentor, gave this unmistakable indication of a likely re-entry yesterday while speaking at The Gleaner's Editors' Forum at its North Street offices, central Kingston.
The informed insight emerged in this fashion:
Mr. Seaga was answering a question about whether he, like Prime Minister Patterson, had his own timetable of departure from representational politics, were the JLP to win the upcoming general election, and who would be his likely successor.
Mr. Seaga: Well, I do not travel with a timetable in my pocket, I tell you that quite frankly. I have a vision and that vision is clearly spelt out here (referring to his party's manifesto, "Change pain to gain".). It's a vision that is reflective of my frustration. I have spent 40 years in this system and I expected to see better done at this stage. And I do not hold myself or my party responsible for what has not happened, because we did our part...".
He then articulated his desire to implement the programmes of the JLP's manifesto if the JLP wins the next elections. At age 72 and after more than 40 years in politics, Mr. Seaga is impatient to get his plans, programmes, policies and projects implemented - or started at least.
Mr. Seaga: In so far as seeing successors, that's not for me, that's for the people. The people have to determine that. What I do intend to do is to use the Senate to expand our options because I do believe that we can be enriched by options that we have not explored and I am not designating by that that this person appointed to the Senate will be any successor. But I believe that the Senate must be made greater use of.
"We have never had a Parliament in which we have had a Senate as good as the 1983 Senate which was appointed on the basis of finding those persons who could make a very useful contribution to debate and thinking. And that Senate as a model is something I want to reproduce. So I cannot have a Senate in which we have a lot of outside people, because the Senate, if you are in opposition is a safeguard of the constitutional rights. If you are Government you have far more latitude.
(The JLP had all the seats in both Houses of Parliament because the PNP had refused to contest the snap election Mr. Seaga called on December 15 of that year or to appoint representatives to the Senate)
"I do not select the Independent Senators. A Prime Minister doesn't. I proposed that idea in constitutional reform, it has been adopted and used by the present government. But the independent Governor-General would make those appointments. But I would hope that in such a case that the independent Governor-General would have some regard for any suggestion that we make. For instance I would have no hesitation in recommending Bruce Golding as an Independent Senator."
And would Bruce Golding as an Independent Senator refuse the offer of a powerful Government Ministry?
So there you have it. Bruce Golding, once Mr. Seaga's heir apparent, could very well be back in the fold of the JLP without lighting a candle or singing a sankey - if the JLP wins the next national parliamentary elections.
But even if the JLP loses, Mr. Golding, only 54, bright, knowledgeable and experienced, would be an asset to any Senate.
Mr. Golding who had been chairman of the JLP, quit the party on February 27, 1995 during a demand by some dissidents that Mr. Seaga quit as JLP leader to make the party more relevant and attractive to the electorate. On October 29, 1995 Mr. Golding launched the National Democratic Movement (NDM), confident that the party would win the next general election. However, in the election that took place on December 18, 1997, the NDM managed to get only 36,707 or 4.76% of the 771,068 votes polled. He quit the NDM in May 2001.
