Portia still tough says Holness

BY HG HELPS Editor-at-Large helpsh@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, September 05, 2010

PORTIA Simpson Miller is not as easy to beat as people many think, as she continues to enjoy popular support, Education Minister Andrew Holness has said.

Addressing the Observer Press Club last Friday, Holness, in responding to the question of whether or not Simpson Miller as leader of the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) would be better for the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP’s) chances at the next general election, said that the Portia factor should not be discounted.

“It’s a very difficult question to answer,” he said. “The Portia Simpson factor is an undeterminable quantity. She is a popular leader, and populist leaders are always very difficult to calculate. Sometimes when they are down, they make one statement that hits a good note. We can’t plan our election policy on the failure of the Opposition, we plan our election policy on the success of the Government,” Holness said.

Simpson Miller was elevated to the office of prime minister in 2006 after then Prime Minister and PNP leader PJ Patterson retired. However, she lost the September 2007 general elections to the JLP, ending the PNP’s 18-year tenure in office.

She is likely to lead the PNP again in the general election due by 2012, although some PNP supporters have said that her waning popularity and inability to sharpen the party’s administrative base would dampen the party’s chances of returning to power.

Her critics point to the need for a sharper intellectual focus for the party that would see officials like Dr Peter Phillips, Dr Fenton Ferguson, Peter Bunting and Basil Waite playing more key roles.

Holness, while focusing on the national issues that go into winning elections, is also mindful of sharpening up his own West Central St Andrew constituency, once regarded as a PNP stronghold when former attorney general and justice minister Arnold J Nicholson was member of Parliament.

The PNP has said that the man who challenged Holness in the last two elections, Patrick Roberts, will not represent the party in the next election, after he was charged by the police earlier this year.

Holness recalled the challenges put up by Roberts in past elections.

“Mr Roberts is a hard campaigner. In the last election, I had to make some tough decisions. He is a street fighter and I had to decide whether or not I was going to be a street fighter,” said Holness.

“I had long given that out to say I am not going to be a street fighter. I had to absorb some things. I had to take a stance that said look, I’m not talking to you, I’m not getting involved with you, I am not going to engage you in your game.

“I won with over 1,000 votes, but my majority fell by over 200 votes because I won by over 1,500 previously and over 1,300 in the last election. So I have a cushion that I can absorb. I have an inner-city constituency and I can’t very well say that the things that the people want are not in their best interest. In a democracy you have to balance and take into consideration everybody’s view,” he said.

“I invest heavily in education there. Right now I spend a lot on training, build a lot of basic schools there, but I don’t know if the people value it,” Holness said.

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Police threat level at extreme

Portia still tough says Holness