Dear Editor,

I think Audley Shaw should wheel and come again and challenge Andrew Holness next year for the leadership of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). Why would I make such an outrageous suggestion?

I heard Holness declare on the television programme All Angles that, if he lost to Shaw, he would challenge him right back, so it would only be fair to return the favour.

The election has been characterised as being unfair to Shaw because the preparation of the voters’ list was initially being personally supervised by Horace Chang, the general secretary, who was a Holness backer.

Also, of the two men, I believe Shaw is more capable to unite the party, which is necessary for any chance of electoral victory at the national polls in the coming decades. The actions of Holness since the election can by no stretch of the imagination be classified as unifying the party.

Shaw and his team should retire to the back benches, allowing Holness full rein in the public space, and use their energies and resources to organise themelves; ensuring constituencies are duly registered, delegates properly selected and otherwise getting ready for next year.

So that challenges do not become an annual occurrence, the leader and other posts should have terms ranging from say 2 to 4 years.

Jamaica seems on the verge of becoming a one-party state and needs a strong Opposition to reverse this trend. Jamaica cannot afford for the People’s National Party, or any other for that matter, to have unbroken State power for 15 or more years. The horror of the last run of 18.5 years should be testimony enough for us.

Andre Bell, St Mary

andrebell7@hotmail.com