SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland – Former Cabinet Minister Dr Karl Blythe hopes to tell Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller his plans for his political future within the next two weeks.

“I have met with my constituents and my Heavenly Father and I have come up with my decision. But I have not yet advised the president of the party (Portia Simpson Miller) so I will now await the discussion with her, and then you will all hear,” Blythe told the Observer Wednesday.

“I expect to have the discussions as early as possible – certainly within the next two weeks because whatever I am doing the party needs to know.”

Blythe, a vice-president of the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) who was among the losing contenders to replace former party president P J Patterson, had made it clear in March that he expected to be included in Simpson Miller’s Cabinet.

His expression of confidence came after he strenuously denied dumping delegate votes to help Simpson Miller win the PNP presidency on February 25 over himself, Dr Peter Phillips and Dr Omar Davies.

“I just know that anybody in the party who is really serious about the government and my performance should find it very difficult to leave a man like me out of a Cabinet,” Blythe, who represents Central Westmoreland, unabashedly told the Sunday Observer in an interview published on March 5.

But weeks later when Simpson Miller excluded him from her Cabinet, he publicly expressed his disappointment and promised to announce plans for his political future after praying to his heavenly father and consulting with his family, close friends and constituents.

On Wednesday he told the Observer that during the consultations, he listened carefully to the various groups and individuals and discussed matters relating to the direction of the constituency.

“I have listened to them and how they feel about whether I should stay or not. But ultimately, the decision has to be how I feel, and I have made a decision,” said Blythe, who has been MP for Central Westmoreland since 1989.

Blythe resigned from the Cabinet in April 2002, six months before the general election, after the government-commissioned Erwin Angus probe of the operations of the National Housing Development Corporation (NHDC) pointed to ministerial interference, cronyism and poor management in Operation Pride, the government’s shelter programme.

However, an examination of the Erwin Angus report, conducted by Ambassador Dr Kenneth Rattray, accused the Angus team of failing to carry out a rigorous and in-depth examination of the facts before arriving at its conclusions, and cleared Blythe of any wrongdoing.