CROSS KEYS, Manchester — Former parliamentarian Michael Peart has urged the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) to follow the example of Manchester Southern as it pushes for renewal within its internal leadership and structures.

Peart, who spent more than two decades in representational politics, retired this year.

He was a five-term PNP Member of Parliament for Manchester Southern and has served as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Peart groomed successor MP, educator Michael Stewart, and handed over the reins of leadership for the PNP’s Manchester Southern constituency organisation last year. Stewart defeated the Jamaica Labour Party’s Hidran McKulsky, who is also an educator, in the February 25 General Election to take his seat in Parliament.

At the PNP’s Manchester Southern Constituency Conference at the Cross Keys High School Sunday night, Peart suggested that the handover from himself to Stewart is evidence of renewal done right.

“The report card for Comrade Stewart is excellent in terms of his function as the Member of Parliament in the constituency… He made his name in Parliament. I would like South Manchester to tell the rest of Jamaica that when you want to talk about renewal and how to go about it, come a South Manchester…” he said to applause.

Peart used the occasion to declare his support for Westmoreland Western Member of Parliament and former Minister of Tourism Dr Wykeham McNeill, who is one of the candidates in the vice-president run-off for the PNP next month.

Peart said that he can attest to the capabilities of McNeill, who was the guest speaker at the conference in Cross Keys.

“If you say the party (PNP) is in trouble and need renewal now, you [nuh just wah] changeover people fi change-over people sake. You must know the works that they are going to put in the party. I can speak about Comrade McNeill. Him is pedigree,” he said.

Stewart is currently serving in the House of Parliament on the Public Accounts and Appropriation Committee, with McNeill, and as deputy spokesperson on education.

He told the meeting that it will be a confusing start to the new school year.

Stewart said that the current changes to auxiliary fees at the secondary level under the JLP Administration are unclear and parents, students and school administrators still do not know if there will be a cost.

He said that there was no need to create changes as it relates to auxiliary fees.

“If something is not broken, why try to fix it?” said Stewart.

McNeill said that despite the need for clarity, he is prepared to ensure that parents are treated fairly and every student to the two high schools in his constituency are enrolled when the school year starts.

He said, however, that he will not be assisting student payments to schools for the new school term, because if the JLP is calling what used to be auxiliary fees a “contribution”, that means it is not mandatory.

He said party supporters should be proud of the work that the PNP did in Government.

McNeill said that among his accomplishments in the tourism sector is bringing in more than two million stop-over visitors to Jamaica for the first time in the history of the country.

He suggested that all the members of the PNP should reconnect with the people as they move forward from the defeat at the general election and try to rebuild.

“When we lost the last election, one of the reasons we lost is because a lot of Comrades did not vote. Not because they had a problem with the government or the government policies, a lot of them [had] personal problems,” said McNeill, adding that even runners and outdoor agents should try to maintain relationships and show care to constituents beyond election day.