McCurdy says PNP must apologise to Portia
Former party candidate wants December 12 named in honour of first female PM
Published:Wednesday | August 17, 2022 | 12:09 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
AS THE country continues to celebrate 60 years of political Independence, a call has been made for lawmakers on the Opposition benches of the Houses of Parliament to honour Portia Simpson Miller, the country’s first female prime minister.
Henry McCurdy, a member of the People’s National Party (PNP) and a respected attorney in western Jamaica, wants December 12 to be declared Portia Simpson Miller Day.
The former PNP candidate for St James North Western made the call on Saturday at the St James West Central constituency conference in Granville, St James, five years after Simpson Miller retired from representational politics.
“Comrades, it is sad that she left the (political) scene from 2017 and we as Comrades have not celebrated her,” McCurdy said. “Comrades, we need to celebrate the first female prime minister of this country, the PNP’s Comrade Portia Simpson Miller.
“I am going to ask the Comrades, members of parliament and the Comrade senators that when they go back to Kingston and sit in the honourable House, they ask the Government to declare December 12 Portia Simpson Miller Day,” he pleaded.
December 12 is Simpson Miller’s birthday. She served as prime minister of Jamaica from March 2006 to September 2007, and again from January 2012 to March 2016.
She replaced former Prime Minister PJ Patterson in 2006 as president of the PNP until her retirement in 2017. Simpson Miller also served as leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2012, and again from 2016 to 2017, before retiring from political representation.
McCurdy said while the party is gaining some traction on the ground, it will first need to publicly apologise to Simpson Miller for the way members have treated her following her departure from active politics.
“It sad because people are asking about who (is) to become hero and heroine, but nobody remembers our beloved ‘Sista P’,” he argued.
“Comrades, as a result of what I have just said, we as a party need to apologise to Comrade Portia Simpson Miller for all the ills we have done to her.
“The PNP (supporters) are out there, and they are ready to come forward, but them feel say we dis (disrespect) Sista P, so them not working with we. Apologise publicly, the People’s National Party, and we shall be good,” McCurdy demanded.
UNITY CRITICAL
According to McCurdy, it is critical for the PNP to live and work in unity.
“We need to come together as Comrades and hold each other’s hands and show love and unity to all of the Comrades. But we need to start with Sista P,” McCurdy said. “Rent out the National Stadium and have a celebration there for her. Whether she can come or not, we need to celebrate our beloved Comrade Portia.”
In a RJRGLEANER Group-commissioned Don Anderson poll, an equal number of Jamaicans have recommended that reggae icon Bob Marley and folklorist and poet, Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley, be named national heroes. Twenty-nine per cent of respondents recommended Marley and another 29 per cent said Bennett-Coverley should be granted hero status.
The Order of National Hero is the most senior order and may be conferred upon a Jamaican who has rendered service of a most distinguished nature to the country.
Bob Marley died in May 1981 at 36 years old and Miss Lou in July 2006 at 86 years old. Twenty-seven per cent of Jamaicans polled said they could not think of a potential new national hero, while nine per cent said sprint legend and eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt should be conferred with the honour.