HIS political fortunes have risen in recent months due to his own push to project himself and his message more, and on the other hand, by a ruling Administration that continues to lose favour with the populace.

For Mark Golding, Jamaica’s leader of the Opposition and President of the 85-year-old People’s National Party, that step up has been part of a struggle along a winding road that is slowly taking him to his intended destination.

Asked by the Jamaica Observer at the end of a recent news conference, held by the party that he leads, if he had reached a level of comfort and satisfaction in the job, based on his climb up the ladder of favourability, and if he may now be seen as a political star who will assert himself upon the nation, Golding went into offensive mode.

“I have never doubted my ability or capacity to confront decisions and make them, analyse issues, articulate positions and so on. The political role of leader of the party was a totally new one to me when I went into it. I wouldn’t say I was preparing myself for it over time, because I hadn’t really sought or intended to do that, but events unfolded in a particular way and I put myself forward at the time,” the noted attorney-at-law and businessman stated.

Now almost two years and nine months into the job of PNP president, Golding’s stocks have climbed progressively to be as popular as Prime Minister Andrew Holness in the most recent opinion poll, when the margin of error is factored in. In the June 2023 Don Anderson poll Holness had a 54.5 per cent favourability rating while that for Golding was 53.2 per cent.

It marks a major shift in his favourability and popularity as at one time he had been trailing Holness in popularity by up to 16 percentage points.

“Since I became leader I have been learning on the job. It’s a journey, and a lot to learn. I have been in the position of president for more than two and a half years and that has afforded me the opportunity to experience a lot, especially given where the party was internally and the issues I have had to manage over that process.

“I think that the nation is getting to know me, and the polls indicate a level of comfort with the leadership that I have been able to provide.

“I don’t think that popularity of a leader is the critical thing; what really matters is how is the party perceived as an option, an alternative to the Government under that person’s leadership. And I think that the polls suggest — consistently, the trend over the last year — that the country is increasingly seeing the People’s National Party as a necessary and ready alternative to this Government,” Golding said.

Yet there is more to come, Golding has promised, as his party continues to deal with the everyday issues.

“As this Government’s fortunes have been declining, our’s have been going up, and we really haven’t rolled out our policy plan. When I speak on the platform I speak of the priorities that we intend to focus on, so I am giving the country a sense of what I see as critical issues that our next Government must address so they have an idea of where my head is and what our focus will be.

“But I haven’t gone into the specific granular policies that we would take into an election by way of a manifesto. That is sufficient for the time being to give people a sense of where the next PNP Government will be heading in the areas of education, training and competitiveness for the human capital development of our people; how we would address crime and violence, the approach we would take to that; and trying to make the economy more diverse and resilient rather than being a kind of tottering stool that is on two legs.

“We need to broaden the economic base. My views on agriculture and rural development are very integrated with that overall economic transformational approach that I am taking,” Golding said.

As for the rough ride that accompanies the PNP president on his many missions, was there a time when the bumps along the way made him feel like quitting?

“Put it this way,” Golding responded, “I haven’t given it up. I am here, I am still soldiering on and I see the results, so I am encouraged.”