ON the eve of PJ Patterson’s announcement of his departure from politics, allegations continue to swirl about attempted bribery of the PNP delegates to choose his replacement, and last night general secretary Burchell Whiteman confirmed that he had taken custody of 30 delegate nomination forms.

The forms were returned to the People’s National Party (PNP) secretariat amid concerns that they would be diverted from the intended recipients.

Yesterday, Whiteman said an investigation into the matter was in its preliminary stages and said the inquiry would take into account the parties that were involved. He did not divulge the constituency involved.

“The team went out (to issue forms) but retained possession of 30 forms,” he told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

“They were returned to the secretariat for safekeeping out of concern that they would not be received by the persons for whom they were intended.”

“So now we have to investigate through whose hands they passed before they were returned to the secretariat,” he added.

Prime Minister Patterson will, at today’s at meeting of the PNP’s National Executive Council, announce the date of a special delegates conference to elect a new president of the ruling party.

Whiteman said yesterday that the ceremony would be short, with two items on the agenda – PNP chairman Robert Pickersgill’s remarks, and Patterson’s address which will include the date of his departure from office.

Last night, PNP deputy general secretary Maureen Webber told the Sunday Observer that the secretariat had 3,450 delegates registered – representing 2,720 party groups. Their cards will be issued on the day of the presidential vote.

Each group is allowed a delegate for every 10 members.

Webber said 14 per cent of the nomination forms were undistributed, but she expected that they would be collected shortly after Patterson makes his announcement.

Patterson’s successor as president of the PNP is expected to be nominated to the Governor General as head of government, but the acrimonious fight that has emerged among the four aspirants – Portia Simpson Miller, Dr Peter Phillips, Dr Omar Davies and Dr Karl Blythe – has cast doubt on the convention being upheld.

All four contenders hold seats in Parliament; and with the exception of Blythe, all are Cabinet ministers, serving under Patterson’s administration. Blythe was once Patterson’s water and housing minister until a housing shelter scandal hastened his departure from the Cabinet.

On Friday, Blythe made fresh allegations of vote-buying among delegates within his Central Westmoreland constituency, and in its wake came reports that he was withholding forms to ensure the integrity of the process.

But Whiteman said he had no such reports.

“I am not aware of any forms being held by Dr Blythe,” Whiteman told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

“All I can say is that some (delegate) forms were returned out of concern,” he reiterated.

Whiteman, in the meanwhile, said an investigation had begun into the allegations by Blythe of bribery among party delegates.

“I have not received any formal complaint, but I have spoken to Dr Blythe and have launched an investigation into the matter,” he said.

Presidential front-runner Portia Simpson Miller had also raised similar concerns during a rally in St Thomas two Sundays ago, but made no official report to the party secretariat.

Yesterday, Whiteman said the party’s Monitoring Committee took a decision to proactively investigate allegations before formal complaints are made.

Last week, the party said it had launched an investigation using an unnamed operative into reports of bribes being offered to delegates and other “unspecified concerns by the party”.

More than 350 persons, mostly the 250 members of the NEC, are expected to attend today’s meeting at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston.

“It is the starting point of a number of activities,” Whiteman said of today’s meeting.

“It is the occasion when the prime minister will really preside over the NEC as the president with no successor having been chosen, but I can’t say it is his last because there might be another before the actual transition takes place,” he told the Sunday Observer.

He said today’s meeting would not facilitate routine discussions.

“It will be a relatively short meeting which will facilitate an address by the president and a ‘composite’ tribute to the president by the party chairman on behalf of the NEC,” he said.

martina@jamaicaobserver.com