THERE was a glimmer of hope for a resolution of outstanding issues affecting the reconstitution of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) shadow cabinet and Senate membership last night.

JLP Leader Andrew Holness told the Jamaica Observer shortly after 6:00 pm that he was awaiting a response from Dr Christopher Tufton on the scheduling of a meeting they had both agreed to have last night on various issues.

Tufton told the Observer minutes later that he expected to have a meeting with the party leader by seven o’clock and that he was preparing to go to the meeting.

Holness has met with both Audley Shaw, the former finance spokesman who challenged him for leadership of the party on Sunday, and former tourism spokesman and Shaw supporter Edmund Bartlett, prior to announcing his shadow cabinet.

But yesterday, Shaw, in a letter to Holness, said he would not accept the position of spokesman on finance and planning until several issues of concern to him were cleared up.

“The main issues are your expressed desire for all senators to resign and the outstanding issue of the challenged legitimacy of the nomination of two deputy leaders,” Shaw said.

“It is clear to me that the reason for your desire to have the resignations of the senators is to allow for the exclusion of Dr Christopher Tufton and others who did not support you in the recent election,” Shaw added.

He said that in relation to the nominations of the two deputy leaders of area councils two and four — James Robertson and Tufton, respectively — there is clear evidence of the nomination of both.

Shaw’s reference was to a dispute that erupted a few days before Sunday’s election when the JLP Secretariat said that it could not locate the nomination forms of Robertson and Tufton, both of whom supported Shaw’s leadership bid.

But Tufton and Robertson have said that they were properly nominated, and Tufton has vowed that he would take the issue to court if the party insists on invalidating his nomination.

Yesterday, in his letter, Shaw told Holness that “in relation to Dr Tufton, you asked me to furnish you evidence of a Tara Courier receipt which conveyed the nomination forms for both yourself and Dr Tufton from Area Council Four. These forms were subsequently delivered to the general secretary, Dr Horace Chang, by Mr Ian Murray and formally confirm that Dr Tufton was the sole person nominated for deputy leader at the area council meeting in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland, on September 29.

“I believe that these issues are being used to pursue a

non-unifying path, especially against Dr Tufton, which I find totally unacceptable,” Shaw said, adding: “In the circumstances, I cannot accept assignment as shadow minister until the two identified issues are resolved.”

Dr Tufton said yesterday that, shortly after he announced on Monday that he would resign from the party’s shadow cabinet, Holness had informed him that he wanted to meet

with him to discuss his role in the party.

“I don’t know what he has to say to me, but he wants us to meet, and I intend to meet with him,” the JLP senator said.

“There will be a meeting, we have agreed to it, and it will be the first time we will be meeting since the conference,” Holness confirmed, adding that he intended to discuss Tufton’s deputy leadership, as well as his future role in the party, including his tenure in the Senate. However, Holness insisted that he would not compromise his right as opposition leader to decide on the persons to sit in a shadow cabinet.

“It must be understood that appointments to the shadow cabinet are solely at the discretion of the leader of the Opposition, and that is a distinct position,” Holness said.

Holness also said that the issue of the Opposition senators resigning to give him a free hand to make new appointments would be part of the discussions. He said that some senators were willing to resign, but he would only accept them en bloc.

Dr Tufton admitted last night that no one has asked him to resign from the Senate. However, he said that

since a caucus of current senators on Monday he had heard arguments about Opposition senators being asked to resign.

“I have not been personally asked to resign from the Senate, but my position is that Senate appointments are not affected by party decisions,” he said.

Yesterday, JLP sources said Bartlett seemed opposed to being shifted from tourism to foreign affairs and foreign trade and being replaced by Holness loyalist Shahine Robinson.