It was the year 1993; Jamaica was stunned with the announcement of Lisa Hanna as a queen. She would later emerge as the winner of the coveted Miss World title. It wasn’t the first time Jamaica had won this prestigious title, but this one were sweeter for many because it happened in an era where more Jamaicans had access to prime time television and radio, compared to the 60s when we had first won it. It was good public relations for Jamaica, too, and it placed our country on the world map. It happened at time when Jamaica was going through a meltdown of the financial sector.

Born in 1975 from a humble family with her father a farmer and her mother a hairstylist, she is someone, like Portia Simpson Miller, with whom the ordinary Jamaican can identify. With her leadership qualities, charisma, beauty, and charm, she easily won the heart of Jamaicans, here and abroad, from the day the she walked the stage with the sash Miss World 1993. In 2007 when Lisa Hanna entered representative politics, many Jamaicans, especially from the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), said that she would fail; they thought she didn’t have what it takes to survive in the hard world of politics, especially in Jamaica.

It was a master move by the former leader of the party , Portia Simpson Miller, to usher her in via a “safe” People’s National Party (PNP) seat at the time, after the minister of tourism, who was the then Member of Parliament for the constituency, faced an uphill task from people within her own constituency.

Her ascendancy in politics wasn’t without some fight, as in 2015, after winning the seat on the second occasion for the PNP, three of her councillors said that she wasn’t doing a great job within the constituency and stated publicly in a joint statement that they would not support her. The battle intensified with all different types of allegations about her stewardship of the constituency being brought to light.

On Sunday, September 27, 2015 the battle got more serious when there was a challenge in which she was victorious against councillor of the Bensonton Division Lydia Richards, who contested her for the leadership of the constituency. Councillor Richards didn’t show up at Ferncort High School in the parish for the challenge and Hanna came out victorious, getting 468 delegate votes out of the 484 delegates who showed up to vote — a landslide victory.

In the 2016 General Election many people stated that, with the tension and the lack of support from three of her four councillors, it was impossible for Hanna to retain the seat for the PNP. Ivan Anderson, the JLP’s candidate, was confident of victory, along with members of the JLP hierarchy. Hanna showed Jamaica that she was now a mature and seasoned politician with a convincing victory margin of 3,137 over her opponent.

After this victory at the polls, Lisa did what any politician with ambition and ill advice would have done — enter the vice-presidential race in September 2016. She was unable to unseat comrades Paul Burke, Fenton Ferguson, and Noel Arscott in the race to become vice-president. Wykeham McNeill took the spot. I thought that it was a bad card to play, because after a bitter internal election in her constituency 11 months before, she should have used the time to rebuild her base and take a break from the spotlight. But, as a former television personality and also a former Miss World in the spotlight she couldn’t sit that one out.

However, the loss has done more good to her than harm. She has matured over the past four years and isn’t afraid to take the unpopular road as it relates to her foreign affairs and trade portfolio and things of national interest. She is now someone of substance and not hype.

Jamaica needs a leader like her; someone who isn’t a puppet and who believes in the sovereignty of our nation. She stands her ground and acts based on principle. Her national profile and the work that she is doing in her constituency lately shows her mission. Her work as former minister of youth and culture makes her the only candidate to replace Dr Peter Phillips when he decides to step down. She has the ability to lead the PNP into a fierce and formidable challenge against Andrew “Brogad” Holness and the JLP in the upcoming general election.

In order to preserve our democracy with a strong Opposition, Jamaica needs someone who isn’t afraid to take the high road, even when they have been called a Jezebel by opponents or slurred as a Labourite by colleagues.

The bitter leadership race between ‘One PNP’ and ‘Rise PNP” has shown the weaknesses of both camps. It highlighted a lack of leadership skills and maturity in both camps. There is still an underlying problem that is preventing the party from moving forward, with victimisation coming from the One PNP camp and the ‘bitter loser’ attitude held by the Rise PNP camp. Both Peters have failed miserably to unite the party while there is still a fierce battle between key supporters of both camps.

The party needs someone with Michael Manley or Portia Simpson Miller characteristics to unite them; to travel across Jamaica and energise the base. We need someone who is loved by both PNP and JLP, and none of the four vice-presidents possesses that type of quality and neutrality to carry out such a task.

Many people might say Damion Crawford possesses such qualities and is the right person to lead the party, but in my opinion he lacks maturity and diplomacy to be president at this time, neither does he have the national presence to rise to the occasion.

It is also my opinion that Peter Bunting’s challenge has done more harm to his aspiration than good, and if he is to be president of the party he needs the support of the executive; hence, he is eliminated from any contest. Based on the utterances by him and around he will need a miracle to become the leader of the party. There are many people within the party who will not support his leadership bid, and it will further divide the party if he were to take another shot at it.

I am not saying that Lisa Hanna doesn’t have her faults or shortcomings, but it’s time to put the emotions and loyalty aside and look on the country over personal gain.

In football there is a player that is called a super sub, whom the coach puts on the field of play to win the match when the team needs him/her the most. The PNP desperately needs a super sub now more than ever, and the only hope it has at the moment is Lisa Rene Hanna, because the JLP is ahead by two goals to nil and there are only 15 minutes of regular play left.

Rashford Dinham a marketing consultant. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or dinham.rasford@gmail.com.