Dear Editor,
With all the rumors flying around that the current leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) may be challenged, it must be asked if anything like that could really happen any time soon. Who else in the JLP can take over the reigns of leadership at this time?
Let's not fool ourselves, less than two years ago the top brass of the JLP decided that no one else but the current leader was fit to lead that party. Without even giving the delegates an opportunity to decide, they squeezed in Andrew Holness, hoping that he would have brought victory for the party.
When it became clear that the electorate saw through the ruse, and the JLP was handed a crushing defeat. Members began grumbling, and are still grumbling. Why? It's not like much has changed within the party since then.
As far as I can see, all the possible alternatives to Holness are not worthy to lead the JLP. The top contender, Audley Shaw, presided over several consecutive quarters of economic decline. If he couldn't manage a single ministry, how on Earth is he going to oversee all of them?
As for the rest of them, there isn't much hope either. Far too many of them are way over the hill already — and I'm not just talking about physical age, but how they think. Those that aren't over the hill have yet to prove themselves. The JLP clearly doesn't have an alternate leader, and it knows that the rest of us know this fact.
While Holness may have been a reasonably good education minister, he is not prime minister material — at least not yet. All is not lost for him, though. The JLP still has quite a few more years in Opposition — maybe five to ten more. So, Holness can use that time to surmount that learning curve to convince the rest of us that he is a worthy prime minister.
Mr Holness need not worry, he may not be the best leader, but he is still way ahead of the rest in the JLP.
Michael A Dingwall
Kingston
Who else can lead the JLP?
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With all the rumors flying around that the current leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) may be challenged, it must be asked if anything like that could really happen any time soon. Who else in the JLP can take over the reigns of leadership at this time?
Let's not fool ourselves, less than two years ago the top brass of the JLP decided that no one else but the current leader was fit to lead that party. Without even giving the delegates an opportunity to decide, they squeezed in Andrew Holness, hoping that he would have brought victory for the party.
When it became clear that the electorate saw through the ruse, and the JLP was handed a crushing defeat. Members began grumbling, and are still grumbling. Why? It's not like much has changed within the party since then.
As far as I can see, all the possible alternatives to Holness are not worthy to lead the JLP. The top contender, Audley Shaw, presided over several consecutive quarters of economic decline. If he couldn't manage a single ministry, how on Earth is he going to oversee all of them?
As for the rest of them, there isn't much hope either. Far too many of them are way over the hill already — and I'm not just talking about physical age, but how they think. Those that aren't over the hill have yet to prove themselves. The JLP clearly doesn't have an alternate leader, and it knows that the rest of us know this fact.
While Holness may have been a reasonably good education minister, he is not prime minister material — at least not yet. All is not lost for him, though. The JLP still has quite a few more years in Opposition — maybe five to ten more. So, Holness can use that time to surmount that learning curve to convince the rest of us that he is a worthy prime minister.
Mr Holness need not worry, he may not be the best leader, but he is still way ahead of the rest in the JLP.
Michael A Dingwall
Kingston
Who else can lead the JLP?
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