Disunity affecting PNP’s chances – Paulwell
Published:Wednesday | August 17, 2022 | 12:06 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
PHILLIP PAULWELL, a former chairman of the People’s National Party (PNP), said that disunity within the party continues to erode the efforts of the candidates seeking to become councillors when the next local government elections are called.
Paulwell shares his observation while addressing a public session of the party’s St James West Central constituency conference at the Granville Primary School on August 13.
He said he has seen at first hand the work of Comrade candidates on the ground across the island.
“It is unfair to have our candidates working so hard ... . Before this conference, I went to Catadupa and I see how the Comrades are working hard, but they don’t have a chance of winning if we are not united,” said Paulwell, referencing the St James Southern district.
However, he noted that he was happy to see some of the steps that are being taken now “to bring us together”.
“We have to make sure that we run through the tape and win this thing,” he said.
Paulwell noted that more than half of the voting population has no interest in the political system and that a united PNP must work to reconnect with that group of people to restore hope and interest.
“The Jamaica people have been largely turned off from the political system. We have 38 per cent of the country who now actively participate in elections, so we have 62 per cent of the people who don’t business at all,” the former PNP chairman highlighted.
“I want to challenge us (PNP) to try and find those people. I want to challenge us to try to show them that we are better than the others. We have to remind them of who we are because there was a time when Jamaica was referred to as a PNP country,” Paulwell pleaded.
He noted that the reason Jamaica has been referenced as being a PNP country was that “people could associate most of the achievements of this country to the People’s National Party”.
“When you look at the institutions that have been created, the work that we did in government ... and you can go back from the days before Independence when Norman Manley was premier, but certainly, during the ‘70s when Michael Manley was at the helm and sought to bring pride to black people in this country,” Paulwell claimed.
At the same time, PNP councillor and candidate caretaker for the Rose Hall division, Jason Cummings, has bemoaned the lack of volunteerism of political workers in the party.
“I don’t know why PNP stop volunteering and investing in their party. The only way we will win these elections is if you come on board with us,” Cummings urged party supporters.
“None of us can do it alone and we want you to rekindle that spirit of volunteerism and make sure that you invest in the People’s National Party, because it’s the only party that will move your constituency and move Jamaica,” he said.