AS expected, Mr Audley Shaw has confirmed his candidacy for leadership of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

That he chose to first indulge in a period of what he called consultations before making last night’s formal announcement, probably had more to do with a desire to mobilise his forces on the ground than anything else.

So now, like it or not, JLP delegates must prepare themselves to choose between the youthful Opposition Leader Mr Andrew Holness and the very experienced Mr Shaw.

Their mission is clear. They must put personal likes and dislikes aside and rely as much as is humanly possible on hard-nosed objectivity.

For the good of all Jamaica, the JLP leader should be the one best able to organise and mobilise the loyal Opposition as a viable alternative to the People’s National Party Government when next Jamaicans go to the polls for parliamentary elections.

In preparing itself for Government the JLP must, as the people’s loyal Opposition, consistently lead the way in honest, analytical and constructive critique of the PNP Government’s policies, programmes and performance.

For decades, Jamaica has been a country lurching from crisis to crisis. In the latest scenario, in an atmosphere of dangerously rising poverty and unemployment, the PNP Government is attempting to walk between the raindrops in implementing a necessary, but very difficult and painful economic structural adjustment programme mandated by the multilateral lender of last resort, the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

To make matters doubly difficult, the scourge of crime, which has hamstrung this country for well in excess of 40 years, continues to poison every aspect of national life. We make bold to say that the economic structural adjustment programme will not work if our leaders do not wake up to the reality that crime must be dealt with in a ‘joined-up’ manner as a matter of national priority.

Whoever is elected as the new JLP leader will need great strength of vision, personality, and self-belief to take on the country’s problems whenever called on to do so. He must be able to ensure that, should the PNP fumble, his party catches the ball and hits the ground running.

This newspaper understands the demonstration of nervousness among JLP leaders and membership following news of Mr Shaw’s planned challenge.

Yet, as we have said before in this space, we believe the JLP is now mature enough to deal with the stresses and strains of democratic change within its ranks.

In any case, it has no choice. As we have said before, the majority of Jamaicans can’t be expected to view the JLP as a credible choice for government if it can’t handle internal democratic processes.

All stakeholders should take heart from Mr Shaw’s pledge that the leadership challenge will be a “contest of ideas, plans, programmes, and vision; and not one that is based on negative campaigning and personal attacks”.

On behalf of all well-thinking Jamaicans, this newspaper wishes the JLP well as it embarks on this intriguing journey over the next several weeks.