EDITORIAL - Mr Holness' new, tough job

YESTERDAY'S FORMAL endorsement of Mr Andrew Holness by almost the entire parliamentary group of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), including the other credible contenders, makes it a foregone conclusion that he will become the party leader and prime minister.

With these developments it is now quite likely that it will be a coronation of Mr Holness, rather than a vote for leader, at the JLP's annual conference, and that Prime Minister Bruce Golding could shorten his timetable for going into retirement. That could be as early as October 20, assuming that there are no other nominations, but Mr Holness', for the party leader's job.

Mr Holness, in the circumstance, deserves the congratulations not only of this newspaper - which we extend warmly - but of all Jamaicans. Indeed, we are quite pleased with the gracious acknowledgement of Mr Holness' imminent elevation by the Opposition People's National Party (PNP).

But, as Mr Holness says he knows, winning the leadership of his party and becoming prime minister of Jamaica cannot be ends in themselves, but means thereto. Or, Mr Holness has a larger, and more difficult, job ahead of him, for which, at 39, his relative youth, while useful, is neither the only nor the primary advantage.

Mr Holness is assuming the leadership of Jamaica at a particularly difficult time. Our economy has been in the doldrums for the past four years and recent hints of recovery may well be short-lived as the world slips, as seems likely, into another recession. His government will also have to patch up its creaky standby credit agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

He also takes over a party that is notoriously fractious, and quick to form gangs, cliques and factions to undermine leaders. It is in this context that we welcome, as was suggested by this newspaper, the decision of the potential contenders who rallied behind Mr Holness, thus sparing the JLP a distracting and divisive contest that could also have harmed Jamaica.

But it cannot end there.

Just the beginning

First, while his youth suggests that he has the necessary energy for the job, Mr Holness now has to demonstrate maturity, the wisdom and vision required to unite his party and credibly lead Jamaica. The immediate challenge is to ensure the advancement and implementation of policies that generate economic growth and create jobs.

He will have to understand that all the skills required for running a country do not reside in a single individual; the process requires a functioning partnership. Indeed, among the shortcomings of the Golding premiership was the sense that it operated in an absence of teamwork. Mr Holness, therefore, must recognise that key players, such as Mr Audley Shaw, Dr Christopher Tufton, Dr Ken Baugh and Bobby Montague, who have shelved their prime ministerial ambitions, are fully on board and integral to his government policy initiatives. He cannot, though, alienate the rest of his administration.

At the same time, the tough men of the JLP must grasp that they will do their party and the country a disservice by clinging to the opportunistic and divisive antics of the past that kept them out of power for so long and which, in the end, helped to undo Mr Golding. There are hard decisions to be taken in the country's interest, which are impatient of delay. Filibuster and procrastination are not options: ask Europe.