Claude Mills, Staff Reporter
AFTER ALMOST three decades at the helm of the Jamaica Labour Party, Edward Seaga has developed a bit of a reputation as a battle-scarred but ruthlessly brilliant adversary in the political arena.
He has survived vicious lampooning in the national press, and radioactive public opinion, and has used his political savvy to quash internal uprisings and stave off challenges to his leadership.
It was the 'Gang of Five' which fired the first salvo in 1990 when they came together out of a common concern that their telephones were tapped when they were Mr. Seaga's ministers in the 1980s. They declared that their fight was with the 'undemocratic manipulation of the machinery and constitution of the Labour Party'. He openly dismissed the challenge, and in a moment of true lyricism and poetry suggested that they 'light a candle, sing a San-key, and find their way back home'.
In 1995, the 'Western Gang of Eleven' threatened to upend Mr. Seaga, openly challenging his autocratic leadership style. The Western Eleven held the opinion that the JLP would not win another general election as long as Mr. Seaga remained at the helm. Mr. Seaga remained unruffled, and even though the Eleven's challenge sputtered, the challenge did throw a spotlight on the leadership crisis facing the party.
In the hullabaloo following that battle, heir-apparent Bruce Golding left the party to form the National Democratic Movement, further weakening the JLP's party structure.
In 1999, the horns were sounded for the third challenge - this time a direct assault at the party's second-tier leadership. Pearnel Charles challenged Audley Shaw for the deputy leadership of Area Three, a position left vacant by the suspension of Mike Henry for vague 'disciplinary' reasons.
The ensuing power struggle exposed the competing camps within the party. Hugh Shearer and the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union openly backed Charles while Mr. Seaga openly backed Shaw. In the end, even this challenge was rebuffed as Charles lost marginally to Shaw and Karl Samuda, a Charles supporter, became a casualty in his bid for general secretary, losing to Ken Baugh.
The recently concluded JLP conference has shown that there are chinks in Mr. Seaga's war-weary armour. Two of his staunchest supporters, Olivia Grange, and former 'Gang of Five' point man, Ed Bartlett became the latest casualties in the bid to position new and more reform-minded persons at the level of deputy leadership, and eventually oust or erode the support around Mr. Seaga. The two lost to James Robertson and Dr. Horace Chang respectively.
Mr. Seaga has not responded kindly to this coup, and has made a number of disparaging comments regarding impropriety on the part of James Robertson's campaign team during the race for deputy leadership. The other side has threatened legal action if Mr. Seaga cannot furnish proof of his allegations.
In the meantime, as the internal party squabbles spill over into the public spotlight, the grenade of melodrama is waiting to explode once again in the ranks of the JLP.
