People's National Party (PNP) vice-president Dr Peter Phillips is today expected to inch closer to a firm position on whether he will mount a challenge for the party's presidency, influential party insiders told the Sunday Observer.

But if Phillips - who will speak today at a PNP divisional conference in Harbour View in the constituency of St Andrew East Rural - finally decides to challenge President Portia Simpson Miller, he will have a tight deadline to officially inform the party's secretariat.

According to PNP chairman Robert Pickersgill, a period of notification must be given to the party's secretariat so that preparations can be made for the annual conference in September.

Yesterday, sources in the party were not sure if the notice period was 90 days or six weeks. Pickersgill, too, was unable to say definitively if the party had agreed on a specific time period.

However, 90 days' notice was what obtained for the special delegates conference in 2006 when Simpson Miller was elected to replace P J Patterson who retired.

A decision by Phillips to challenge would be in keeping with the belief by some senior members of the party that the principle of reaffirmation of the party's leadership positions must be maintained.

One such member is parliamentarian Fitz Jackson, who insists that routine elections ought to be held in the party.

"It goes to the heart of the provision of the constitution of the party," Jackson told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

"I am one of those who believe that one of the cornerstone objectives of that provision that should not be tampered with in any way. is to ensure that the leadership has the ongoing, unquestioned support of the delegates," he added.

He said that no one should seek to personalise their positions in the party, as all positions belong to the party. "So the positions that are up for annual renewal, by virtue of the constitution, must be decided by ballots."

This, he argued, would insulate the party from a sort of personality cult.

Party insiders have told the Sunday Observer that persons close to Simpson Miller and other officers of the PNP have been trying to discourage any form of challenge to their positions at the upcoming conference.

According to one party member, who asked not to be named, the strategy being used to discourage challenges is to label as disloyal, anyone voicing such an opinion or intention.

Executive Class

Gardens with Gravel

Death to the Mullet!