Bruce Golding yesterday appealed to uncommitted voters to support the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in the next general election, imploring them not to give up on the country as he laid out his vision for a better Jamaica.

“I ask them to think again, because they can make a difference,” Golding said of the uncommitted as he appealed to them to work with his party to implement a number of substantial changes, including constitutional amendments, affecting the country’s social, economic and political life.

Golding’s appeal comes against the background of recent opinion polls, including the Stone Poll carried by the Observer which has shown that, while the number of persons who said they were undecided declined from 23.3 per cent in August to 16% per cent in October, those who are refusing to vote in the next general election rose by approximately six per cent.

“I say to them, you must never give up on Jamaica,” Golding, the JLP leader, told a massive crowd of supporters at the public session of the party’s 63rd annual conference at the National Arena in Kingston.

“This land is your land, and you cannot afford to give up on the land of your birth,” he said. “I even go further, that you can help to make it better, because you can make a difference.”

He suggested that they think again and “join with us to make the change for a better life… to make Jamaicans smile again”.

The appeal climaxed his hour-long keynote address, in which he explained the JLP’s vision for Jamaica, which included a number of pledges for changes, among them several emanating from his seven-point Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the JLP which led to his return to the party in 2002.

Golding also addressed criticisms of him not being charismatic. “I am what I am,” he said. “And what am I? I am just a simple human being who loves his country, who has an abiding faith in the goodness of the Jamaican people.”

In an obvious response to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s religious rhetoric, Golding said he had no messianic desires of his own or an ability to work miracles. Instead, he promised to enact legislation that would restrict prime ministers to a maximum two terms in office.

He reminded the conference that he will be 59 in two weeks and as such had to recognise that there will soon be the need to elect a successor. He said that he was committed to rebuilding the JLP around principles, instead of personalities.

“It is not my desire that the party’s fortunes should be dependent primarily on me and my leadership, and I want the party’s hope and the party’s fortunes to be built on a platform of ideas that can take Jamaica forward and give the Jamaican people a better life,” he said.

A massive crowd travelled from across the country in hundreds of buses, trucks, cars and on motorcycles, clogging traffic around the National Stadium throughout the day, as the conference turned out to be one of the biggest ever staged at the National Arena.

The Arena was full from 11:00 am and most of the green-clad supporters had to watch the activities on huge screens set up outside, or listen to the sound system.

The crowd feasted on jerked delights and other refreshments sold by hundreds of vendors and was entertained by disco music and a moving performance by gospel star Sandra Brooks, prior to the start of the main event.

The party’s four deputy leaders – Audley Shaw, Derrick Smith, Horace Chang and James Robertson – and the president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union, Ruddy Spencer, all spoke before Golding.

Golding was introduced by his dreadlocked son, Stephen, whom the JLP leader described as his “favourite Rastaman”.

The Opposition leader promised substantial changes to the Standing Orders of Parliament, giving the Opposition increased powers to guard against the dictatorship of a government majority, which has long been a complaint of the JLP in Opposition.

He said that the significance of those proposals was that they were being proposed by the JLP on the eve of a general election they expect to win.

“We expect to be the next Government of Jamaica, but we are committing ourselves to these arrangements which will limit the power of our own Government and strengthen the power of the Opposition which will face us across the floor in Parliament,” he explained.

He also reiterated, as part of its vision, JLP proposals for: fixed election dates; separation of powers; introducing harsh penalties for corruption in the public sector; a constituency budget for each member of parliament; an independent central bank; redesign of the economic strategy; consolidation of the current statutory deductions into a single deduction and compulsory benefits for National Housing Trust contributors; strengthening the justice system; an independent body to investigate police brutalities; improvements in the educational system; and a comprehensive rural development programme with added incentives for farmers.