Forced out of the government over the Operation PRIDE scandal nearly three years ago, Karl Blythe insists that he is in the race for the presidency of the People’s National Party (PNP) and that he is going it alone.

“Karl Blythe is definitely, 100 per cent going to the race,” the former water and housing minister told the Sunday Observer. “The only thing that could take me out is illness or death. I am definitely going.”

He rejected suggestions that he had formed an alliance with Portia Simpson Miller, the local government minister and clear front-runner to succeed Prime Minister P J Patterson, who is expected to retire during the first half of next year.

“We are going our separate ways,” Blythe said of Simpson Miller, while conceding they were close political friends.

Blythe and Simpson Miller apart, the others who have declared firm interest in the leadership of the ruling PNP are Finance Minister Omar Davies, who has formally launched his candidacy; National Security Minister Peter Phillips; and Transport and Works Minister Robert Pickersgill.

Although he is one of the PNP’s four vice-presidents, Blythe is the only one of the leadership aspirants who does not have a Cabinet post. He was forced to resign in April 2002 after a damning report on the running of Operation PRIDE, a government-supported, low-income shelter project that is overseen by the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC).

There had been complaints of billions of dollars of over-runs on Operation PRIDE schemes, of contractors being paid for work not done and generally lax doling out of government funds.

A report by retired civil servant Erwin Angus, who led the probe, concluded that approximately $1.6 billion had been squandered on Operation PRIDE projects and that Blythe was a meddling minister whose interference went beyond policy direction.

Operation PRIDE/ NHDC had an inner circle and were run more like a “brotherhood” than an accountable, government-supported project, Angus held.

A review of the Angus Report, by former solicitor general Ken Rattray, claimed that the Angus team had made errors in fact and law and sought to exculpate Blythe. However, Patterson refrained from calling the former minister back into the Cabinet after the 2002 election and a later shuffling of ministerial portfolios.

But notwithstanding public perception of his record at the water and housing ministry and the fiasco at Operation PRIDE – which has led to the arrest of contractor Danhai Williams for alleged fraud – Blythe said he remained confident this won’t affect his chances of being elected leader of the PNP.

Party delegates who will make the selection had a different perception of the issues, said Blythe, who represents Central Westmoreland in the House of Representatives.

“.The delegates in the party know the facts. They are sure that I did nothing wrong,” he said.

Added the ex-minister: “Don’t forget that the PNP delegates are smart. They are well-informed, and it is they who shall decide who is going to be president, and, of course, prime minister.

“(The delegates) are aware that the only thing Karl Blythe did was to provide land, water and housing to the poor at a rapid rate – which some people didn’t like. They are aware of that.”

He had made some enemies, he said, as he pushed to help the poor, and those enemies had jumped at the chance to sully his name during the NHDC/Operation PRIDE scandal.

“I might have touched a few corns here and there in moving things rapidly. I might have pushed certain persons too hard even within the existing bureaucracy, within the system,” he said. “So when they got the opportunity, they would have tried to ensure that Blythe is not seen in the light that he ought to have been. But the facts are on the ground.”

In July, Blythe filed libel suits against officers of the Jamaica Labour Party whom he said had defamed him by placing election ads that were loosely based on the Angus Report.

The move was one of the first steps to help repair his tarnished image and pave the way for his bid for the PNP presidency. He has not yet officially launched his campaign.

Blythe is confident of the weight of the 200 delegates whose votes, he said, he has locked in. He believes that provides him with a foundation on which to build, making it unlikely that he would want an alliance with any other potential candidate.

The suggestion is that Blythe would help to deliver votes to Simpson Miller from the island’s northwest coast. In exchange, he would be a key player in her eventual cabinet.

“While we are very close we are going our separate ways,” Blythe said. “Of course, all this has to do with whether it’s first-past-the-post or whether there is a run-off.

“If it is a run-off, any type of alliance would come, of course, after that.”

The race has traditionally been first-past-the-post and Blythe is confident that he will come out ahead if he runs his own race. However, because of the number of likely candidates for the election, Patterson has put on the table the possibility of a two-round vote with the two leading candidates going to a run-off.

“.There is a difference between John Public and the delegates. My strength is too much within the delegates for me to want to go that route (of a run-off),” Blythe said. “.Don’t care what anybody says, the top three persons are still Blythe, Portia, and Peter (Phillips, the national security minister).”

He does not see Davies, who officially launched his campaign on December 8, as much of a challenge.

“I will not be unkind to any aspirant,” Blythe said when asked directly for an assessment of Davies’ chances. “I will just tell you there is no doubt of the top three.

It is delegates who do this thing, it’s not a handful of the persons who you believe run the show, is delegates.”

He deserved a shot at the top job, he said, because he had performed, Blythe said.

“The type of work and the new thinking I bring to the table, you really don’t see too much of that anymore,” he said. “(A leader) has to understand the business world; my background is varied. I bring vast experience. I understand the value and importance of time.”

He added: “While we must make money and ensure that the rich make money, the poor must be protected. My experience is certainly there in corporate Jamaica. Performance man, performance. I don’t care what they say about the ministries, I perform.”