SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Prime Minister and President of the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) Portia Simpson Miller will have high profile challenges to sitting MPs as a distracting backdrop as she meets with constituency executives in St Elizabeth today.

Yesterday, former West Indies cricketer Wavell Hinds neither confirmed nor denied reports from impeccable sources of an intention to challenge Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth North Eastern Raymond Pryce for leadership of that constituency.

However, leading Santa Cruz businessman Evon Redman yesterday confirmed his (Redman’s) intention to challenge Pryce and place himself in poll position to represent the party in North East St Elizabeth come the next election.

And in St Elizabeth South West held by Hugh Buchanan, former banker and businessman Ewan Stephenson confirmed yesterday afternoon that he has already sent in an application to the party to offer himself as an alternative to Buchanan.

Redman, described by political insiders as being for decades a “power behind the throne” in NE St Elizabeth, traditionally one of the strongest PNP seats in rural Jamaica, told the Jamaica Observer that he was impelled by what he considered poor constituency leadership from Pryce. Also, he said it was his conviction that the constituency had a right to be represented by its own people.

“I have been asked to do this several times over many years and I have declined. Now I think I have a responsibility to step forward in the interest of North East St Elizabeth,” Redman said.

Hinds, a former West Indies batsman and Jamaica captain, and current head of the West Indies Players Association as well as chairman of selectors for Jamaica’s cricket, refused to commit himself one way or the other when pressed by the Sunday Observer yesterday.

However, curiosity was spurred on Friday when Hinds announced during a visit to St Elizabeth that he would be sponsoring a Twenty20 cricket league in the parish during the upcoming summer months.

“St Elizabeth has a higher number of cricketers than anywhere else and is deserving of an initiative such as this,” Hinds told the Sunday Observer by telephone Friday. Subsequent checks revealed that Hinds has been consulting with constituency leaders regarding the possibility of a challenge to Pryce.

Yesterday, Pryce responded to the Sunday Observer by text when asked to comment, saying only “there is no vacancy”.

In the case of SW St Elizabeth, Stephenson, a resident of Southfield, said that he was responding to persistent requests from “all across the constituency”.

Buchanan accepted the democratic right of “anyone to challenge” but questioned Stephenson’s motives. “Based on the timing of the challenge … it would seem more self-serving than wanting to build the constituency organisation,” Buchanan told the Sunday Observer yesterday afternoon

When contacted specifically about NE St Elizabeth, prior to Stephenson’s confirmation of his interest in SW St Elizabeth, PNP general secretary Paul Burke refused to be drawn, saying: “We (PNP) don’t discuss those things with media before it’s discussed at the level of the party.”

Burke confirmed that today Simpson Miller would be in “private meetings” with “constituency committee members in each constituency separately”.

Pryce became the PNP’s flag bearer for NE St Elizabeth, just weeks before the December 2011 parliamentary elections. Despite the short notice, Pryce won easily, defeating the JLP’s Corris Samuels by 4068 votes — 9566 to 5498.

Pryce’s arrival followed a period of extreme uncertainty in the constituency.

First, Kern Spencer, who was elected as member of parliament in 2007, was eventually dropped by the party after being charged in connection to the so-called Cuban light bulb scandal. Those charges were eventually dismissed after a prolonged court battle lasting years.

Basil Waite, who replaced Spencer as chairman of the constituency organisation following a high-profile internal contest, was dropped as the PNP’s candidate for reasons that were never officially explained with the 2011 elections fast approaching. That paved the way for Pryce’s last-minute entry.

While credited for his role in lobbying for major projects including the expansion and upgrade of the Santa Cruz Health Centre to a Centre of Excellence and expansion of classroom space at the Bogue Primary School, Pryce has struggled to unify PNP forces in NE St Elizabeth.

Redman, 63, who served as chairman of the constituency organisation during the unstable period leading to Pryce’s arrival, said he believed he was well positioned to “build unity”.

“I have been involved in constituency organisation since 1972 when I was part of the PNP youth movement and assistant to then MP the late Sydney Pagon. I have been asked several times down the years to take on political representation and each time I declined, but now I have to take on the responsibility. I can’t just sit by and allow the PNP’s strength in this constituency to unravel,” Redman said.

In SW St Elizabeth, Buchanan, son of the late Donald Buchanan who represented the constituency between 1989 and 2007, has also struggled to bring unity. He had defeated the JLP’s former Cabinet Minister Chris Tufton by 13 votes in what was arguably the biggest upset of the 2011 elections.

Yesterday, 52 year-old Stephenson, whose wife is sister to Tufton’s wife, insisted he was responding to the call of the people in seeking to replace Buchanan. “People from all across the constituency keep asking me to represent them because they say they need better representation,” Stephenson said.