Time to renew PNP

Gary Spaulding, Contributor

Within a matter of weeks, the People's National Party (PNP) has lost three stalwarts who served Parliament at about the same time, after it rebounded from its 1980 loss and won the last national election in that decade, securing 45 seats to the Jamaica Labour Party's 15.

The seemingly larger-than-life ex-army man, Colonel Leslie Lloyd, who won the Central Kingston seat after Ralph Brown retired from representational politics, was the first of the three to depart this life.

Lloyd was followed by the less-conspicuous but equally pleasant Ben Clare, an attorney from western Jamaica who was ushered in on the new wind which blew in the PNP's favour.

Ironically, the more outspoken Donald Buchanan, who copped the South Western St Elizabeth seat in 1989, and who is not known to follow anyone, passed away in the wake of his two Comrades.

Clare was among 10 attorneys who won seats in the 1989 general election, while Buchanan was among six trade unionists who performed the same feat.

Sadly, all three men lost their battles to illness.

Their passing signals that now must be a time of serious soul-searching within the PNP.

Tracking those from '89

Some of the PNP parliamentarians who were ushered into Gordon House in 1989 have died, some have bowed out gracefully and otherwise, and others continue to serve.

Among members of the 'Victorious Class of '89' who have died are Michael Manley, the former PNP president and prime minister; Sydney Pagon, from North East St Elizabeth; Aston King, of Eastern Hanover; Ralph Brown, the former member from Central Kingston; Arthur Jones, the former parliamentarian from East Central St Andrew; Hartley 'Bobby' Jones, the former MP for South St Andrew; and the man from Central St Mary, Horace Clarke.

Some, such as A.J. Nicholson and K.D. Knight, have bowed out of representational politics and are serving in the upper chamber of the legislature.

Others such as P.J. Patterson, who succeeded Manley; John Junor; Seymour Mullings; Dr Paul Robertson; Karl Rattray, Claude Clarke; Easton Douglas; Carl Miller; Carl Marshall; E.G. Barrant; Dr Karl Blythe, Harry Douglas; Sam Lawrence; Terry Gillette; and Errol Ennis and a host of others are leading quieter existences these days, suggesting that there is life after politics.

There are others who came in February 1989 and continue to make a contribution to the Parliament, such as Portia Simpson Miller, PNP president and former prime minister; Robert Pickersgill; Derrick Kellier; and Dean Peart.

A few of the men - not the women - from the PNP who won seats in 1993 general election are still in the House. These include Anthony Hylton, Dr Fenton Ferguson, Roger Clarke, Michael Peart and Peter Bunting.

Clarke slipped into the House in 1991 via a by-election in North East St Elizabeth after Pagon died.

Two decades later, he still occupies a seat there, albeit representing another constituency - Central Westmoreland.

Heather Robinson, who came with this group in 1993, resigned in 1996, while the vagaries of the polls took care of others such as Colin Campbell and Phyllis Mitchell.

Most, if not all, of the persons mentioned would have been forced to retire from other public-sector jobs when they reached the age of 60. Not politics.

Politics is often described as a dynamic process, and so political parties cannot afford to be stagnant.

An inescapable reality is that they must renew themselves periodically because the needs and desires of the electorate keep changing.

There is no doubt that the PNP has made a vital contribution to this country. But it is also true that the human mind is not constant, as it is influenced by external factors that cause it to shift.

This is why political parties cannot allow themselves to wither and die. The strength of the PNP has been in its historical capacity to renew itself under trying circumstances. Unfortunately, there is no indication that the PNP is doing that this time around.

The deaths of the latest three stalwarts should signal to the PNP that it is at a defining moment in its 73-year existence.

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