Labourites cram arena for 64th annual conference
IT was by no means a small crowd, but the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) would have been disappointed that it did not cram the National Arena with the thousands who attended the 63rd annual conference last year.
If there was any question about whose JLP it was yesterday at the 64th annual conference, it was settled when a supremely confident Bruce Golding went to the microphone.
He was not only the party’s leader: he was the prime minister.
For the first time in 18 years, the JLP held conference in government, and Golding, whose nomination and election as party leader were mere formalities, described the JLP as passengers on a bus during the period.
Still selling himself as “the driver” of the new JLP, he told the jubilant crowd that now they had their own driver, they should give him the birthday present on December 5, by taking all the parish councils home for the party.
The JLP now controls 12 of the 13 councils, with the opposition holding one (Westmoreland) and the Portmore municipality.
Except for a spectacular display of indiscipline involving nearly 50 motorcyclists, all with pillion riders without protection, and who held up the party leader’s convoy, the conference was uneventful.
Still celebrating the four-seat majority in the September 3 general elections, the early speakers revelled in the victory that has eluded them since 1989.
The speakers before Golding briefly outlined the challenges they have faced so far, while stating the vision for the future. General secretary Karl Samuda thanked the party workers for the election victory while Robert Montaque outlined the government’s vision for local government.
The opposition People’s National Party (PNP) was also in for much criticism from the speakers and was blamed for all the country’s ills on their poor stewardship. The JLP also did not take kindly to criticisms of increasing food prices, and the endless crime which has been ongoing for more than a decade.
Meanwhile, deputy leader with responsibility for Area Council One Derrick Smith – under fire for his comments in Tivoli Gardens Wednesday night on the Cuban light bulb saga – said the JLP rescued Jamaica in the 1980s reducing crime by 50 per cent, and that it would have it to do again.
Apparently still failing to understand that his comments on the case may be deemed prejudicial, he again asked the crowd, “Yuh want wi to lock dem up?”
The crowd roared, and Smith repeated the question.
Other speakers included deputy leader Horace Chang and Audley Shaw who told the crowd that it will take years to fix the wreck that he inherited from the PNP.
The one-day event ended just after 4:00 pm with the crowd hurrying out of the stadium complex to accommodate those expected for the football friendly between Jamaica and El Salvador.