Firing back at the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) which dared her Friday to call general elections, prime minister and People’s National Party (PNP) president, Portia Simpson Miller yesterday warned the JLP “when I bring it on, I hope you can take it”.

“I noticed that the JLP is calling on me to ‘bring it on’. They better make sure that they are ready, because when I am ready I will turn it on, and then I will bring it on.” Simpson Miller told the Sunday Observer during the lunch break at the PNP’s two-day National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

JLP general-secretary Karl Samuda on Friday threw down the gauntlet to the PNP leader, stating his party’s readiness and promising to out-organise the PNP on the ground, as he launched a five-day get-ready tour of Jamaica’s coastal belt. The tour is set to pass through 35 constituencies and more than 150 communities, with five mass meetings.

“Sister P, yuh better watch yourself, because all those things you talk about and all those (political) threats that you issue, be prepared for what is coming forward.” Samuda threatened.

Elections are constitutionally due next year but speculation is rife that Simpson Miller will go to the polls this year to get her own mandate.

“At the appropriate time, we will see,” said Simpson Miller yesterday. “I just want to tell them that, I will never ever allow the JLP to set the agenda for the People’s National Party,” she hit back, cautioning the Opposition to take its own advice and make sure its house was in order.

“We (PNP) do not have any difficulty with the people who want to ‘rev’ up their political machinery. They can do whatever they want to do. What I am not going to allow is the gentleman who is calling on Portia to bring it on to dictate our moves. But, I hope when I bring it on, he will be able to take it,”

Turning to the JLP’s promise to set the Portmore toll at $30 if it won the next general elections, the prime minister said “Talk is cheap”.

“Everybody is free to talk and free to make a world of promises that they will not be able to sustain. This prime minister, when I look back, I want to be able to look back and say, ‘promise kept, promise kept’,” she said.

She warned individuals to be careful of the promises they make, noting that the Jamaican electorate was very sophisticated and was able to discern what was realistic and what was not.

The Jamaican electorate would not buy into any political games from either the JLP or the PNP, she said.

“I hope that people don’t say things and afterwards say they did not know what the situation was. I’m not into saying things for political expediency. Anything I say, I am going to work very hard to make sure that they can be achieved,” she promised.