PORTIA Simpson Miller formally launched her campaign for the presidency of the People’s National Party (PNP) yesterday, pledging to come down hard on corruption and crime and promising to run an inclusive government that is respectful of all the political opposition.

“I extend welcome and respect to the JLP (Jamaica Labour Party),” Simpson Miller told thousands of backers at the National Indoor Sports Centre. “This is how it will be, and this is how it should be. The JLP and PNP must sit down together and talk and listen to each other.”

Simpson Miller, who lost her 1992 bid to lead the PNP when the late Michael Manley retired, is one of four candidates who have already thrown their hats in the ring to succeed Prime Minister P J Patterson, who has promised to step down by next April.

The other contenders are National Security Minister Peter Phillips; Finance Minister Omar Davies; and Karl Blythe, a vice present of the party. Of the quartet, Simpson Miller is, by far, the most popular nationally, as she was in 1992, but there is no certainty that this will translate to a majority of votes among the 4,000 delegates who will cast ballots.

But yesterday, Simpson Miller, a populist and charismatic politician, outlined a significant reason why she believed she would be the best person to lead the party and the government in tackling the problems facing Jamaica: her ability to inspire people.

“The greatest challenge for the next political leader, is to win back the hearts and minds of the Jamaican people,” she said.

That national support, Simpson Miller suggested, is necessary to confront the major problems of crime and corruption – issues on which the PNP is often criticised.

“The most urgent issue is to tackle crime,” she said. “.And as far as corruption is concerned, I will wage a major campaign against it wherever it is found. We cannot achieve economic growth, we cannot foster competitiveness, we cannot increase production on a foundation of corruption and unethical conduct.”

On the issue of crime, narco-trafficking was highlighted by Simpson Miller as an area for specific concentration.

“The drug trade is fuelling the flow of guns into the country and fostering the culture of criminality and poisoning our communities,” she said. “We must be relentless in stopping them from entering Jamaica, as we do not make them.”

At yesterday’s launch, Simpson Miller was endorsed by sitting MPs Phillip Paulwell, Errol Ennis, Roger Clarke, Victor Cummings, and O T Williams, as well as a several local government councillors. Also endorsing her campaign were Portmore’s mayor George Lee, former tourism minister Francis Tulloch and former MP Arthur Nelson.

Hers, she said, would be a broad-based leadership structure.

“If we build an inclusive society where people have renewed hope and a sense of mission, no minority of criminals can hold this country to ransom,” she said. “No network of criminals, no matter how well-organised, well-armed, and financed can match a determined, vigilant and energised people.”