Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate Mark Golding, who is engaged in an intense battle for the chairmanship of the People’s National Party (PNP) organisation in St Andrew Southern, has also taken on the role of acting legal adviser to the Opposition party.

Golding made the disclosure this week at a Jamaica Observer Press Club as he outlined his credentials for entering representational politics. He explained that he is filling the post for AJ Nicholson who is “doing legal work in other countries at the moment”.

Following the February 25 General Election in which the PNP lost by one seat, Nicholson – who had been leader of government business in the Upper House for many years, and who in recent times came under fire for his handling of matters involving a Jamaican national locked up in the Middle East – declined Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller’s invitation to return to the Upper House.

Nicholson, an attorney, indicated at the time that he wanted to return to the international lecture circuit and spend more time at the Bar. It is uncertain how much longer the veteran politician and fierce party loyal will continue in his role as legal adviser to the party.

Meanwhile Golding, the former justice minister, remains confident in the face-off with colleague comrade Collington ‘Colin’ Campbell for the seat in the often volatile constituency, which Member of Parliament (MP) Dr Omar Davies will not be contesting in the next general election. Dr Davies has been the MP for the constituency over 20 years. He is expected to step down as chairman of the party organisation in August and as MP at a later date, leaving Campbell, who is no stranger to on-the-ground politics, and Golding, a first-timer, to duke it out.

Over the past several weeks the rivalry between the two has intensified, but has remained civil, unlike the candidate selection exercises that ripped the PNP apart last year in the lead-up to the general election.

Golding, in response to claims that he has been cherry-picked by Davies for the constituency chairmanship, has maintained that he has been involved in the constituency for more than eight years and as a member of its executive since 2011. According to the Opposition senator, he has strong backing, particularly from political activists, in the gritty constituency.

Campbell, who recently quit as head of the State-run Jamaica Urban Transit Company three months ahead of the end of his contract, won the St Andrew Eastern seat over the Jamaica Labour Party’s Percival Broderick in 1997 but was unsuccessful in 2002 when he lost to St Aubyn Bartlett in a narrow contest. He also lost in 2011 against Pearnel Charles in Clarendon North Central.

Read more Observer Press Club stories from Golding and Campbell in next Sunday’s Observer.