- JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
A jubilant Dr. Peter Phillips surrounded by delegates and children yesterday.Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
WHILE NOT oozing the same amount of energy as the Portia Simpson Miller camp, the delegates and supporters of Dr. Peter Phillips' 'Solid as a Rock' campaign who gathered at the Chinese Benevolent Association headquarters, were confident their man would pull it off.
That confidence level went up a few notches when Dr. Phillips, the National Security Minister, arrived in a gleaming SUV shortly after 11:00 a.m.
Chants of 'Peter! Peter!' went up as he exited the vehicle, swarmed by exuberant supporters, many of them dressed in orange T-shirts with the candidate's image.
Maxine Henry-Wilson, one of the driving forces behind the 'Solid as a Rock' campaign, was busy throughout, organising delegates to cross over to Dr. Phillips' alma mater Jamaica College, where voting took place.
Fitz Jackson, State Minister in the Ministry of Finance, acted as her deputy. He used a 'bull horn' to get delegates in line and hustling to cast their votes.
Joy Keane, a PNP councillor for the Malvern division and delegate from South East St. Elizabeth, said Dr. Phillips was the best of the party's four presidential contenders to take Jamaica to the 'next level.'
"We know he can represent us internationally, he's a firm speaker and he means his word," she said. "We are at a good stage at the moment, but he's going to mobilise us to be even better."
Although stating that Jamaica's unrelenting crime rate was her biggest concern, Jeniffer Griffiths, a delegate from East Central St. Andrew, said she was still prepared to back Dr. Phillips.
"I feel like things will better, he can run the country. I feel like the party want a change an' I feel he can do it," she said.
OMAR RESPECTS JUDGEMENT
Dr. Omar Davies, Finance Minister and presidential candidate in the PNP leadership race plans to give the new party leader and Prime Minister his full support. "We have done our homework and I will respect the judgement of the delegates," he explained at the Alfred Sangster Auditorium at University of Technology (UTech) yesterday morning .
A steady stream of buses filled with his supporters moved between UTech and the voting centre at the Jamaica College High School along Hope Road yesterday.
Dr. Davies declared his position as Finance Minister will be conditional. The first condition he explains is if he is offered the position by the new Prime Minister and the second is whether he will be allowed to continue with the policies he has been using to guide the country's economy over the last several years.
