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Golding shakes up Manchester

Says not ‘studying’ detractors seeking to pull party down

Published:Monday | June 28, 2021 | 12:11 AM
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A Peter Phillips loyalist waves a flag honouring the former party leader as PNP President Mark Golding meets and greets supporters in Royal Flat, Manchester, during a tour on Friday. Since his November 2020 election, Golding’s leadership of eight-decade-
Ian Allen/Photographer
A Peter Phillips loyalist waves a flag honouring the former party leader as PNP President Mark Golding meets and greets supporters in Royal Flat, Manchester, during a tour on Friday. Since his November 2020 election, Golding’s leadership of eight-decade-old party has been fraught with rifts.
PNP President Mark Golding talks to a consituent in Greenvale, Manchester, on Friday. Golding and other PNP officials sought to gin up support for the party as it prepares for the local government elections due by February 2022.
Ian Allen/Photographer
PNP President Mark Golding talks to a consituent in Greenvale, Manchester, on Friday. Golding and other PNP officials sought to gin up support for the party as it prepares for the local government elections due by February 2022.
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Crushed by a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) landslide in the September 3, 2020, general election, the leadership of the People’s National Party (PNP) hit the ground in Manchester last Friday to “energise” supporters after losing two crucial seats to the ruling party in that parish.

Although local government elections have been delayed up to February 2022, the top brass of the party toured municipal divisions in Manchester Central and North West, connecting with their base as they made preliminary plans for the next round of polls.

President of the PNP, Mark Golding, said that if local government elections were called any time soon, his party would be ready as it has been working quietly on the ground.

He said that the vast majority of candidates were already in place.

“The energy is there on the ground,” he said.

According to the PNP president, Jamaicans have been dissatisfied with the performance of the Government, particularly the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccination, which he described as being “in shambles”. He also cited rising prices and the value of the Jamaican dollar to the greenback as matters of national concern.

Further, the opposition leader said that the education system was on the ropes because of the displacement caused by COVID-19. An estimated 120,000 students are reportedly totally out of touch with school administrators.

“I am just coming with a listening ear ... . My concern is just to understand what the people want and to deliver what they need as best I can ... . I don’t have any other agenda than that,” Golding said.

Quizzed about the disunity plaguing the party since his November 2020 elevation to leadership, Golding said that there were “a few detractors and because of social media in particular, they have an amplified voice, but we are not studying anybody who wants to pull the party down.

“There were some who were doing that and have come over and are working with us, and they see the work we are doing, and we are building from the bottom up,” the party president said.

Manchester North West Member of Parliament Mikael Phillips told The Gleaner that after losing the general election, the party made a strategic decision to hit the road in order to keep its base vibrant.

Phillips said he was confident that the PNP would retain the Manchester Municipal Corporation in the next local government elections.

editorial@gleanerjm.com