IN CELEBRATING its sixtieth anniversary as a political party, the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) will this weekend - Saturday and Sunday - be holding its annual conference to 'much fanfare' at the National Arena.
The theme of the conference, 'Sixty years of service to Jamaica', the party notes, will set the tone "for the way forward and where we are going as a nation."
But while the party is promising a grand celebration, there are a number of important happenings that many have been predicting, depending on the outcomes, could shape the future of the JLP.
None more so than the race for two important deputy leader positions where contenders, MPs James Robertson and Dr. Horace Chang, are hoping to unseat incumbents and known JLP MP stalwarts Olivia 'Babsy' Grange and Edmund Bartlett respectively.
Robertson, a first-term MP, is said to be "holding his own" in the race against Grange. Likewise Dr. Chang in St. James against Bartlett. A win for the challengers, pundits say, would be a blow for the old guard within the JLP a party which hasn't tasted power since the 1989 general election.
The JLP is, however, downplaying the significance of the deputy leader races, noting that the party is more focused on finding ways to end the electoral fortunes of the ruling People's National Party (PNP) and restore "hope and pride to all Jamaicans."
But while the party has been busy trivialising the importance of the race for deputy leaders, at least one candidate is considering it serious enough to have called a press conference yesterday to show off what he said was the support he had behind his candidacy.
"If the wheel is not broken there is no need to change it," said Mr. Bartlett to supporters in Montego Bay. "The work I have started must be continued as we strive for more growth and development. My work is not yet completed as my agenda is to remove the People's National Party (PNP) from power."
