Hartley Neita, Contributor
Mr. P.J. Patterson, M.P. (left) as he arrived at Gordon House on Tuesday, April 7, 1970 accompanied by Opposition Leader, Mr. Michael Manley to be sworn in as a new Member of Parliament. - File
THERE HAS been a lot of misinformed talk about the leadership campaign which is now taking place within the People's National Party.
This, of course, is not the first time that there has been such a contest in both of the major political parties.
The first was in 1969. Norman Manley had announced that he would be resigning as president of the People's National Party after 31 years at its helm. Two candidates, his son Michael Manley and legal colleague, Vivian Blake, sought to succeed him. The elections to choose the successor resulted in the younger Manley defeating Blake. In addition, young Manley also succeeded his father as Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament.
PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT
In neither case was the public at large engaged in the choice. The new president was chosen by the delegates of the PNP at a special conference, and the Governor-General appointed the new PNP leader who was a member of the House of Parliament as the Opposition Leader. This was the choice of the PNP members of the House at the time.
It must be remembered that the leader of a party in Jamaica may not necessarily be the Prime Minister or Leader of the Opposition. In 1944, Norman Manley who was president of the PNP did not win a seat in the House of Representatives. The Leader of the Minority Party in the House as the Leader of the Opposition was then designated was Ivan Lloyd, the 1st vice president of the party who had been elected to the House. Norman Manley did not assume this office until 1955 when he won a seat in the House. And later on, when Bustamante resigned as Prime Minister in 1967, he still held the office of Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party.
The second occasion that there was a change in the leadership of a Party was in 1974. Alexander Bustamante had been the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party since 1940 for 34 years and decided to step down. The contest to succeed him lasted only a couple of weeks and Wilton Hill, a Deputy Leader, was soundly defeated by Edward Seaga. Hugh Shearer who had been Leader of the Opposition resigned the office, and so Seaga was appointed to succeed him with the support of his Parliamentary colleagues. Six years later, he became Prime Minister by virtue of being leader of the Party and also because he commanded the loyalty of most of the JLP members of Parliament which then formed the Government.
The third change in the leadership of a party took place in 1992. Michael Manley, who was then leader of the PNP and Prime Minister, decided to resign both offices because of ill health. The contest to succeed him as President of the Party was between P.J. Patterson, Chairman of the Party, and Portia Simpson, a vice President. Patterson defeated her. And he was appointed Prime Minister by the Governor-General because he commanded the loyalty of the majority of the members of Parliament who were members of the PNP.
The fourth change in the leadership of a party took place earlier this year. This involved the choice of a successor to Edward Seaga who was both leader of the Jamaica Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. After much to-and-froing, Bruce Golding became the only candidate and he was unanimously elected the third JLP leader. He was not, however, a member of the lower House at the time and so Dr. Kenneth Baugh was appointed Leader of the Opposition, temporarily, until Golding was elected the Member of Parliament for Western Kingston in a by-election.
The current campaign for change involves four candidates, Karl Blythe, Omar Davies, Peter Phillips and Portia Simpson-Miller (in alphabetical order) who are seeking to become the fourth President of the People's National Party. It is not, as some people would wish, a national campaign. It is, as with the case of Michael Manley and Viv Blake in 1969, Seaga and Hill in 1974, and Patterson and Simpson in 1992, an election in which only the delegates of the Party can vote. If you are not a member of the PNP and become a delegate, you cannot vote in this election. It is first and foremost, an election by members of the Party through their delegates for the new President of their Party.
After that exercise has taken place it will be the responsibility of the Governor-General to advise himself if the new President, or another, is the person who "in his judgement , is best able to command the confidence of the majority of members of the House". What this means is that the person who will be appointed Prime Minister has to have the support of the members of his Party who are members of the House. It could well be, therefore that the person who is elected President of the Party by the delegates may not enjoy the confidence of the members of his or her party in the House.
It is therefore be possible that the PNP could find itself with a President who is not the Prime Minister, a situation which could find the Party shredding itself with inter-party anarchy.
There was, of course, another situation where there was a change in the leadership of Government, and which is totally different to the present situation. This was in 1967 when it was felt that Donald Sangster who was in a coma in a hospital in Montreal, Canada, might not survive. Acting on the advice he received from Sir Rowland Phillips, the Chief Justice, and Victor Grant, the Attorney General, the Governor-General Sir Clifford Campbell called the Jamaica Labour Party members of the House to a meeting at King's House and instructed them to hold a caucus, decide who they would wanted to succeed Sangster - if he died - and advise him so that he could appoint that person.
The JLP had 33 members in the House. Sangster and Elliston Wakeland were ill and not present, and so there were 31 votes. E.C.L. Parkinson, the Speaker of the House, presided at the caucus. There were three candidates. D. Clement Tavares, Robert Lightbourne, and a reluctant Hugh Shearer. In the first balloting, Lightbourne received eight votes, Shearer ten and Tavares twelve. Neither Tavares nor Shearer had a majority and Lightbourne was asked to withdraw his candidacy. A second ballot was cast and the votes were Tavares 15 and Shearer 16. Shearer's vote was increased to 17 when, on the insistence of Tavares, Wakeland was asked to vote.
The Governor-General was therefore informed of the result and when Sangster died, he appointed Shearer as Prime Minister. Note that on that occasion there was no question of the election of a Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party as Bustamante still occupied that office. And it was not until 1975 that Bustamante decided to step aside as Leader of the Party and be designated Chief.
The situation in the PNP now, is therefore different from what was in the JLP then. For further details about these matters, readers are invited to section 70 (1) of the Jamaica (Constitution) Order in Council, 1962, and if I may be immodest, the biography, "Hugh Shearer - A Voice for the People" which I recently wrote.
