THERE HAVE been many unsuccessful attempts to challenge the leadership of Edward Seaga in the last two decades before he controversially announced his intended resignation yesterday.
It was the 'Gang of Five' who fired a 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 Jamaica Labour Party'. Seaga openly dismissed the challenge, and in a moment of true lyricism and poetry, suggested that they 'light a candle, sing a sankey, 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, chairman and 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.
POWER STRUGGLE
The ensuing power struggle exposed the competing camps within the party. Hugh Shearer and the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union openly backed Mr. Charles while Mr. Seaga openly backed Mr. Shaw. In the end, even this challenge was rebuffed as Mr. Charles lost marginally to Mr. Shaw and Karl Samuda, a Charles supporter, became a casualty in his bid for general secretary, losing to Ken Baugh.
At last year's JLP conference, there were clear chinks in Mr. Seaga's war-weary armour. Two of his staunchest supporters, Olivia 'Babsy' 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 did not respond kindly to this coup and made a number of disparaging comments about Mr. Robertson, who threatened legal action if Mr. Seaga could not furnish proof of his allegations.
In June 2004, the erosion of Mr. Seaga's supporting cast once again fell into the spotlight as Dr. Dennis Minott, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) caretaker for Eastern Portland, wrote to the Political Ombudsman asking him to investigate allegations of widescale bribery in the party's deputy leadership race at its 60th annual conference last November.
The bribery allegations were made last year following the defeat of Ms. Grange, the former deputy leader for Area Council Two.
