Samuda KARL SAMUDA, the most controversial figure vying for the post of general secretary of the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), is dismissing suggestions that his entry into the race is influenced by a desire to hold sway in the decision on the future leadership of the party.
Speaking to The Gleaner yesterday, Mr. Samuda confirmed that he will indeed run for the post in the election to be held in two weeks. That election will follow the vote for the JLP's four deputy leaders at its 60th Annual Conference this weekend.
However, questioned on his rumoured aspirations for power within the party from which he was once expelled, the Oppo-sition Spokesman on Industry said: "There is no future agenda other than the removal of the People's National Party (from Government)." He also said he decided to offer himself for the position because a vacancy had been created when Dr. Ken Baugh, the outgoing general secretary, decided to end his four-year run in the post.
Mr. Samuda, a 61-year-old businessman, has for more than 20 years been a Member of Parliament, having first won on a JLP ticket in 1980. Within four years of the JLP's loss of power in the 1989 election, he had joined the infamous Gang of Five, been expelled from the party at the height of disquiet within, and even joined the ruling People's National Party (PNP) in 1993.
That year Mr. Samuda won a narrow victory by 171 votes on the PNP ticket, over Tom Tavares-Finson of the JLP. But in 1997, he returned to the Opposition party citing 'policy differences' between himself and the Governing PNP.
Mr. Samuda suggested yesterday that, despite the PNP's stirring up of past history in the recent General and Local Government elections, his missteps with the JLP are a thing of the past.
Responding to whether those past actions could still affect his further mobility in the party, he said: "I don't think so because I have spent 38 years as an active member of the JLP and only two years in the PNP. I left a ruling Government Party to return to the JLP."
However, after his return in 1995, there were indications of more problems between Mr. Samuda and the leadership of the JLP. When he was sacked as Leader of Government Business in 2000, party insiders told The Gleaner he had seemed set on a collision course with his party leadership after a sound thrashing by Dr. Baugh, in the previous year, for the same post he now seeks.
RH
