Phillips: Holness ‘worst prime minister’ ever
PNP MP says behaviour of Comrades ‘even hurt me worse’
Published:Wednesday | August 17, 2022 | 12:05 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
TIRED OF being in the political wilderness since 2016, the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has been pressing home the need for its members to present a united front in order to return to the helm of governing the country.
Mikael Phillips, a vice-presidential nominee of the PNP, said he is hurt because of how the Andrew Holness-led Government is running the country. According to him, Holness has failed the country and there is no hope for poor people who have to contend with the high cost of living.
“... I don’t know about you, but as a Jamaican, as a member of the People’s National Party, I am worried about Jamaica. I am worried because we have a prime minister who loves social media, who loves to just cut a ribbon, who loves to go break ground, but one who does not care about the people of Jamaica,” said Phillips.
POOR MANAGEMENT
“Andrew Holness has been the worst prime minister that this country has ever seen,” he charged, pointing out that many parents will not be able to send their children to school come September, not because they don’t want to, but rather they are not able to afford to provide the basic necessities.
“He (Holness) said that he is the best, but he has failed at every single thing that he has tried, to govern this country. He has failed at crime, we have the worst roads, we have more (uncollected) garbage than anything else,” continued Phillips.
Despite the poor management record of Holness, as claimed by Phillips, the PNP’s vice-presidential nominee lamented that his party has been unable to get its house in order because of the behaviour of those who consider themselves to be Comrades.
“When I see how we as PNP treat the PNP, it even hurt me worse because if the labour party a mash-up Jamaica and the people don’t have hope in the People’s National Party, then dog ‘nyam’ Jamaica supper,” said Phillips during a PNP St James West Central constituency conference at the Granville Primary School on Saturday.
While he did not identify any of the internal issues confronting his party, including the recent decision by Lisa Hanna, a former presidential candidate and current member of parliament, to step away from representational politics at the end of this political term, Phillips argued that if PNP members and supporters are unable to live in unity, it would be difficult for the party to return to lead this country.
The PNP lost two consecutive general elections, in 2016 and 2020, which has left the party mired in a string of controversies and internal wranglings, including leadership challenges. In 2020 Phillips, who managed to secure the Manchester North Western seat to become the only PNP MP in the parish, noted that it is an uncomfortable feeling for the PNP to have one seat.
“Look yah man, as the only MP in Manchester it nuh feel good. And when I look from Manchester come straight round to Trelawny, no other PNP MP,” he said. “It is not good enough for us to say the people of Jamaica want the PNP, and we’re not doing nothing for the people of Jamaica to want we.”