THE leadership of the People’s National Party (PNP) is facing a mutiny in the Kingston Central constituency over its decision to ditch Lawrence Rowe and replace him with former cop Steve McGregor as its standard-bearer in the constituency.

The party confirmed late last week that it had parted way with Rowe who had been the caretaker in the constituency since 2023.

On Monday a PNP flyer announcing McGregor as the candidate was being circulated, stating that he will be presented on Wednesday at the PNP constituency office on North Avenue.

However, several PNP supporters in the constituency told the Jamaica Observer on Monday that Comrades are bitterly divided over the change.

“The Comrade leader [PNP President Mark Golding] is right when he says influential Comrades in the constituency support the decision to replace Lawrence, but he needs to speak to the people on the ground who are the runners, election day workers, and indoor and outdoor agents,” said one source in reference to a January 10, 2025 letter which Golding sent to Rowe.

In that letter Golding told Rowe that following a meeting with him on January 4, he did further soundings of influential Comrades in the constituency, “to see whether the decision that you should not run as the party’s candidate should be changed. The responses I received from all but one of the persons I spoke with were not favourable and reaffirmed the assessment that you are unable to unite the party machinery in the constituency behind your candidacy”.

Golding also claimed in the letter to Rowe that the party’s Integrity Committee had not approved him as a fit and proper candidate to contest the election.

“I had nevertheless decided that you should be given a chance to do so. However, the deplorable condition in which you left the constituency office after removing your installed windows/door, together with your stated insistence that you will leave the party if you are not the candidate, make me realise that the Integrity Committee [was] right,” added Golding.

The PNP president also indicated to Rowe that he could earn considerable capital by supporting the party’s candidate in the constituency to ensure a PNP victory there and, “As previously discussed, if you do so you will be afforded the opportunity to use your considerable talents to play a meaningful role in the next PNP Government”.

This sparked frenzied speculation in light of a claim by Rowe that he had been offered a place in the Senate, board membership at a housing agency, and $15 million in resources if he willingly walked from the seat.

“The PNP has serious questions to answer as they have not moved to disavow the allegations made by Lawrence Rowe, nor has the public heard of any legal action being telegraphed or pursued against him for asserting things that are untrue and defamatory,” said member of the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Communications Taskforce Marlon Morgan.

“Additionally, if the PNP belatedly challenges the allegations, the public can have no assurance that Lawrence Rowe’s silence going forward has not been bought. The PNP is in an invidious and untenable position as the kind of horse-trading disclosed by Lawrence Rowe in the fizzled negotiation of his exit, present an egregious and disturbing proposition of State capture and is an affront to the democratic process in Jamaica,” added Morgan.

“Jamaica is not a banana republic and should never have its best interests undermined by the machinations of a political party that is desperate for State power. This Lawrence Rowe/PNP feud presents yet another reason why the Jamaican people should reject the PNP and ensure that Mark Golding does not come anywhere near the reins of government in this country,” Morgan argued.

Up to press time on Monday, there was no comment from the PNP on either the allegations by Rowe or the criticisms from the JLP, but Observer sources said the party’s leadership was busy trying to put out the fire in Kingston Central which has been unsettled since the 2019 clash between Imani Duncan-Price and Raymond Pryce to replace long-serving Member of Parliament Ronald Thwaites as the party’s representative in the constituency.

Duncan-Price won the bitterly fought contest but it left Comrades divided and this was partially blamed for her defeat to the JLP’s Donovan Williams in the 2020 General Election.

“As Comrades we have not come back together from that election and this is only going to reopen old wounds. The people are not even saying no to McGregor, they are saying they want Rowe.

“This is not about the former senior sup [superintendent] who nuff people here rate and respect, this is about anybody the party imposes on the people who want Lawrence,” said one Comrade in the constituency.

“This is going to be a difficult one for the Comrade leader to solve because if him say Lawrence, nuff Comrades a go drop them hands and if him say McGregor, another set of Comrades a go walk away, so it tough on him [Golding],” the Comrade added.

However, he was quick to point out that the mood of those supporting Rowe could change once the affable McGregor hits the ground.