RONALD Thwaites has said that some of the drama unfolding as sitting members of parliament (MPs) in the governing People’s National Party (PNP) are challenged for their candidacy is unhealthy and driven too much by egos. Thwaites, the MP for Kingston Central, told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that he is concerned.

“Some of it is quite healthy, and some of it is being handled in an untoward way,” he stated. “We must not allow jealousy, gossip and egotism to get in the way of the most important objective of any Administration, any political body, which is to advance the conditions of life and opportunities for our people,” Thwaites stated.

The country has looked on with interest as the discontent unfolding across the constituencies of St Elizabeth North Eastern, St Ann South Eastern, St Andrew East Rural, St Elizabeth South Western, and Portland Eastern brings tears to the eyes of some Comrades. One PNP supporter, in a letter to the Observer, said: “I set my pen to paper with not only tears in my eyes but with fear in my heart and grave disappointment with my country’s outlook.

I have always supported the People’s National Party because of its social ideologies. The cause of my discontent is how my beloved party is treating its youngest and most potent members. Lisa Hanna, Damion Crawford and Raymond Pryce are among some of the brightest minds in politics.

They are the ones I want to take charge when these ageing politicians take their final bow.” The very public infighting has crescendoed, leaving at least two MPs — Hanna (St Ann NE) and Pryce (St Elizabeth NE) — fighting to hang on to their seats as the scent of a general election starts to hang heavily in the air. The rumblings in St Andrew East Rural have also forced first-term MP Crawford to defend his leadership.

Only a week ago, MP for St Elizabeth South Western Hugh Buchanan cut it close with 14 votes to defend his seat from challenger Ewan Stephenson. But first-time Portland Eastern MP Dr Lynvale Bloomfield was not as lucky.

He had his seat kicked from under him by attorney-at-law Andrea Moore, who will now represent the PNP in the next general election.

The latest and most intriguing development in the melee of challenges is an injunction taken out by Pryce’s supporters last Friday, barring the party from holding a conference to select a candidate for St Elizabeth NE. The move, which is an unprecedented one in the party, came in the face of mounting pressure from the challenge by Santa Cruz businessman Evon Redman to unseat Pryce. The situation has caused a deep rift among the constituents and delegates.

Some feel Pryce should have let the party handle the matter, while others, like former mayor of Black River Daphne Holmes, who secured the court order, believe that Pryce should be given a chance to prove himself.

But PNP insiders say that the move has not gone down well with the party leadership which, it is felt, should have intervened before the matter escalated.

In another twist yesterday, highly placed sources said Black River Mayor Everton Fisher has been tipped to become the party’s candidate in the next election because the tensions between the Redman and Pryce camps have caused too much tension in the constituency.

On Sunday night, at a conference in her constituency, Prime Minister and PNP President Portia Simpson Miller insisted that there were no problems in the PNP.

“I don’t have no problem in my party; I am the leader and I lead from in front and not [from] behind,” she told supporters. Simpson Miller also dismissed criticisms that she has been too silent on the mini battles within the party. “Let me make it quite clear, the People’s National Party is not like the other party.

We have a system where the officers of the party meet if there are difficulties and have discussions — not just the party leader behave like a dictator… the People’s National Party… is a democratic organisation,” she declared. The PNP has so far postponed the selection contests in St Elizabeth North Eastern, St Ann South Eastern, and St Andrew East Rural