PEOPLE’S National Party (PNP) Chairman Robert Pickersgill says the party is convinced it still has the confidence of the Jamaican people, midway into its five-year term in office.

“The next two-and-a-half years are critical for us in terms of performance and fulfilling aims and objectives of our manifesto, but we think we are equal to the task and are convinced that in that regard we still have the confidence of the Jamaican people,” Pickersgill said.

He was addressing a press conference held yesterday at the party’s Old Hope Road headquarters in Kingston to provide an update on the party’s annual 76th conference, which culminates with a public session at the National Arena on Sunday.

The party’s confidence, despite the economic fallout, comes as the Portia Simpson Miller-led party prepares to ramp up its work on the ground in preparation for the upcoming local government elections, which are constitutionally due next March.

PNP General Secretary Paul Burke said the party was making good progress to have everything ready for the March 1, 2015 local elections. “In terms of candidates we are more than 90 per cent completed; in terms of work on the ground, it will intensify after conference,” Burke told reporters.

“We are seeking to improve representation, service, communication and we will be more visible on the ground in a practical way after conference,” he said. “[But] until the party president says that is campaign time, we will not go into high gear.”

Pickersgill, meanwhile, said this conference theme, ‘Accelerating Growth, Empowering People, Securing Our Nation’s Future’, candidly expresses the party’s own acceptance that it is a work in progress which has not yet arrived at the ‘destination’ being sought for the nation.

“We are aware that there are still hills to climb, new lands to survey and new seas to navigate and conquer. Even as we are mindful of these we also place on the table for the review and acceptance of the Jamaican people the many successes we have achieved on their behalf,” Pickersgill said.

Some of these successes, he said, included implementation of the economic recovery programme; reduction of major crimes, including murder; reduction in unemployment; return to growth in the economy; improvement in Jamaica’s global competitiveness; and restoration of trust and confidence in the country and economy by international development partners.

“We are also mindful that these important targets have been achieved with tremendous support and investment by the Jamaican people and the partnership of local and international stakeholders to include our public sector workers,” Pickersgill noted.

The two-day conference, he said, comes at the exact halfway point or 30 months into the administration’s term and such a context of necessity requires reviews and stock-taking.

“Throughout the six regions our own delegates and leaders at constituency and development levels have telegraphed their own anxieties that as we pass the 30-month mark there is much work that still needs to be done,” he sad, adding that the conference agenda, which includes an interactive question-and-answer session with Cabinet ministers, should yield robust discussions.

“There is a lot to celebrate as things could be much worse. We have gone five IMF (International Monetary Fund) tests and on the way to the sixth and had we failed the first one we probably couldn’t be having this conference, so there is a lot to be thankful for,” the party chairman said.

Burke, at the same time, said mobilisation has never been an issue for the party and this is expected to be reflected in the turnout at this Sunday’s event where hundreds of party supporters are expected to overflow onto the fringes of the National Arena.