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Is the PNP done for?

Published:Wednesday | February 12, 2020 | 12:24 AM
Kari Douglas
Kari Douglas

THE EDITOR, Madam:

“Jeesas Chrys, the PNP mash up!” lamented a passerby as I expressed surprise reading aloud the headline ‘Councillor Kari Douglas leaves PNP’. If a hardcore firebrand People’s National Party (PNP) activist like councillor Kari Douglas jump PNP’s ‘vintage’ ship to Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) cruise ship, do we expect Damion Crawford or Andre Haughton to go for a ride soon?

Kari’s veteran PNP father Easton Douglas must be turning in his grave. I would love to hear his friend and PNP political master mind P.J. Patterson address this and other issues, like not contesting the election in Clarendon, among other things.

Is Peter Phillips and others mashing up the PNP, or is the PNP just old and decrepit, lacking in relevant ideas and/or a process of baiting, adapting, evolving, rejuvenating, developing and growing democracy in Jamaica and putting the 80-year-old party in motion?

Could it be that the Douglas switch is strategic and, in any event, who will the move benefit, the JLP or PNP? And will the JLP masses trust a comrade or will she be used as part of the JLP strategic planning team?

BACK HOME

Many expect her to ‘sing a sankey and find her way back home’, as it is no secret that this young lady doesn’t take BS. Let’s watch this one, as she’s got guts combined with an independent mind. But is her move correct? Only time will tell.

Maybe we shouldn’t be too concerned, as some would point to the fact that the JLP was formed out of the belly of the PNP when Sir Alexander Bustamante pulled away from his cousin Norman Manley to form his own party. Maybe we can sing “don’t worry about a thing cause every little thing gonna be alright”. It’s democracy and political history in motion, where one is free to cross political aisles back and forth.

MICHAEL SPENCE