Golding firm – JLP fails to convince PM to stay

(Jamaica Observer) Officers of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) tried without success last night to convince Prime Minister Bruce Golding to reverse his decision to step down as head of the Government and the party.

The officers had met with Golding at JLP headquarters on Belmont Road in Kingston, hours ahead of the weekly meeting of the party’s Standing Committee.

It was not clear where Golding, who drove out of the party headquarters about 7:30 pm, went. However, Daryl Vaz, a close confidante of Golding and the Government’s information minister, reiterated that the prime minister maintained his position.

“He met with the officers of party and told them he’s not changing his mind,” said Vaz who made it clear that he was not in the meeting but was able to relate Golding’s position going into the talks.

Golding shocked his party and the country on Sunday when he told a meeting of the JLP’s Central Executive that he would not be seeking re-election at the party’s annual conference in November and would step down as prime minister as soon as a new leader had been elected.

“The challenges of the last four years have taken their toll, and it was appropriate now to make way for new leadership to continue the programmes of economic recovery and transformation while mobilising the party for victory in the next general elections,” Golding was reported as saying in a news release issued by Vaz shortly after 1:00 pm Sunday.

Shortly before the start of the Standing Committee meeting at JLP headquarters last night, Senator Dennis Meadows told the Observer that the officers had tried to persuade Golding to change his mind.

Meadows said that members of the Standing Committee were going into their meeting with “a sense of shock and some level of bewilderment” and that they, too, were trying to convince Golding to reverse his decision. “If we fail, we will have to look beyond that to see how we resolve this matter. Hopefully, good sense will prevail,” he said.

“Mr Golding, in my view, is the man on the bridge at this time. He’s not without his faults, but he’s the best person at this time to take us across,” said Meadows.

The JLP headquarters was teeming with party supporters last night, many of them expressing shock, disbelief and sadness at their leader’s announcement.

Some openly expressed the view that traitors within the party contributed to Golding’s decision.

One supporter, who said she was born in 1955 and was a market vendor in Clarendon, told the Observer that she wept on Sunday after hearing the news of Golding’s impending departure.

“Bruce cannot leave wi now. Him tek us into the middle of the ocean, how him fi leave wi now?” she asked.

The woman, who said that she was unable to go home yesterday, explained that she found her way to the JLP headquarters via bus.

Earlier, the weekly Cabinet meeting was said to have proceeded without any distractions.

“Cabinet was business as usual,” Vaz told the Observer. “Other than discussing the issue of people trying to convince the prime minister to reconsider, Cabinet went as normal as it could go. We dealt with the issues without any distractions and basically it’s just a matter of managing the transition, realising that the country is at a sensitive stage.”