The Gleaner Editors' Forum last week hosted the Jamaica Labour Party General Secretary Karl Samuda and his deputies - Don Creary, Joel Williams, Devon McDaniel and Aundre Franklyn, as well as newly-appointed Deputy Leader James Robertson. Here are excerpts from the sitting.KARL SAMUDA:
ONE OF the things that is of great concern to us is the need for us to sustain popular support, because over the past four elections held in Jamaica, the Labour Party in almost every single instance has led in the popular polls up to or near to the holding of the actual elections itself. We have seen where our popularity carries us just to the point where the election is called and then we seem to be unable to go the final journey of being successful at the polls and forming the Government.
Well, we intend to put an end to that. One of the things that we are going to do as a national strategy is to attempt to build the foundation of our party from the grassroots up, focusing primarily on grassroots support, interaction with the community and getting feedback from the community as to exactly what are the needs as they affect the entire country, in all parts of the country. We don't have a lot of time because in the next 30 months we will being facing another election, which would be the Parish Council Election, so time is something that is not on our side, therefore we realise the urgency of action to be taken.
So what you are going to find is that throughout the country there will be teams as we are here today. Teams of persons both at the highest level and intermediary and the operative level of the party working together, councillors, organisers within each constituency, grassroots workers are going to intermingle and go throughout the country ensuring that the people getting the message that we are in fact serious about this question of working together as a team.
JAMES ROBERTSON:
As deputy leader, going over the last 14 years preparing myself for where I am now, I have learnt an understanding of what the delegates of the party expect in terms of leadership. I have actually looked at some of the weaknesses and our weakness is an understanding of governance, what it takes in this century to govern people, the standard people expect, how they expect to be communicated with, how they expect to be led, where do they fit into this process, and we have started in my constituency and others have started. Bobby Montague and Don Creary and the councillors in St. Mary are well on their way in terms of training and educating people in how they are going to fit into this new dispensation.
On community development, there are a lot of people out there who do not necessarily wish to say they are going to be JLP or PNP, but they are going to vote. Their concern is community matters and themselves and how they fit in. It is how to work with these different sectors and show them how our party will work with them and be able to deliver a better Jamaica. If we spend the time, day and night meeting with different sectors, explaining to them the positions of our party, what we believe our vision is for Jamaica, I believe they will come with us.
JOEL WILLIAMS:
I recognise and understand the volume of work that I will have to do and I am prepared, and I am up to the task. I think at this point in time our situation in the country demands that we have a Government, a group of people who are committed, who have an understanding of what the problems of the country are and are prepared in a very transparent way to make sure that we govern and govern in a way where the people in general can feel that this is a Government that we can go with.
DON CREARY:
We take our new responsibilities very seriously as I believe that the responsibility we have been given by our party does not only relate to the party but certainly to the national good of Jamaica and national political life. I think our main objective as a secretariat under Karl's leadership and guidance, will be to ensure that the people of Jamaica begin in the shortest possible time to see us as an available, credible and ready alternative to the current administration. To this end, we believe that it is going to be very important how we communicate both internally and externally. It is something that the secretariat is going to be placing a lot of emphasis on. Our secretariat, even when we include the senior man (Karl Samuda), still comes out with an average age under 40 and I think with that there is hope. We are mindful of the fact that the young people of this country form the largest number of non-voters and I think it is an awesome responsibility we now have to say to them, well we are around the table, we are on the inside, we know how you think, we know what you feel and we are articulating your position and in return we need your support.
So we have seen a number of young entrepreneurs who have come in, brought a lot of managerial and organisational skills to the table. And we have seen young people who are not members of the Labour Party, who have never voted for the Labour Party but come in, offer financial and organisational support, including some people from traditional PNP families, and they are not saying to us, look I like the direction in which you are going and we want to help you. If that support concretises then it will be a big plus for the Jamaica Labour Party.
CODE OF CONDUCT
DON CREARY:
Also, we are looking at the whole public relations aspect to include a Code of Conduct for all members of the Labour Party, and I am sure we are going to have to include in that code the need for us to argue and disagree violently in private, but leave with one accord. If your point is not taken, it's just not taken and you will move on with the view of the majority, so that we do not always appear to be divisive and fighting among ourselves.
It is only by strengthening each member that the party will be seen as relevant and credible.
BEATING THE PNP ON THE GROUND
AUNDRE FRANKLYN:
It is the vision of persons who voted for us, our party, that we will deal mainly with the organising of the party, because it has always been said that the People's National Party (PNP) has a superior level of organisation and we believe that with this team we will be able to out-manoeuvre and outdo the PNP. We have the personnel, we have the resources, although we need a whole lot more, financial that is, to actually make a difference.
It is imperative though that we not be viewed as reformist or traditionalist. And the ideas. It is very important that we be seen as a level of change. You see, we approached the last general election advocating that we need a change, and it's only fair for the public also that we do as well internal changes.
Change in the ideas, change in the personnel. I think the team that we have is a competent team and I think it's a team that will enable all facets of the Jamaica Labour Party to play a very important role, including the youth arm, G2K, NOW, WFM, JAH, all of these groups, BITU, to actually come to the table even more freely now and demonstrate their skills and their talents in order to enable us to form the Government.
CHANGE IS CONSTANT
DEVON MCDANIEL:
Every social organisation which is functioning is in a state of constant change, likewise a political organisation, and that is indicative of what we are going through now. As a party we need to bring back to the fold, supporters who have been alienated, and allowing everyone to feel a part of the process. In my election I was fortunate to have won all four divisions, which is really a tremendous feat.
Fortunately in the Local Government elections we were able to repeat this, so we had a clean slate where we won all four Parish Council divisions and this is based on the ability to pull to the fore people who weren't interested in politics, people who were on the line as it were. And what we have to do as a party, that's what we are doing now, we are restructuring, we are retooling, we are re-engineering, and in doing so we have been able to pull PNP, people on the line, people who have been associated with the party but who have not voted for the longest while, and with the present thing that we have, a mixture of the young and vibrant and the experienced.
STRATEGISING FOR ELECTION
JAMES ROBERTSON:
The sectorial groups are out there, the community development councils and communities exist, the church exist as one of those groups, youth groups, it's a matter of us going to them, not them coming to us, and imparting our vision of Jamaica and the new dispensation and how we see they will fit into it and how we will lead and what we have to offer. We have begun to do that.
