'A juvenile attempt at messy politics'
over 3 years in Jamaica Observer
More signs of lingering conflict inside the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) surfaced yesterday with Councillor Venesha Phillips (Papine Division) accusing Comrades of concocting a juvenile scheme to distract from the failures of the organisation and the 97th anniversary of the birth of former revered leader Michael Manley.The latest brouhaha come on the heels of the PNP's 83rd anniversary themed 'PNP Strong' with urgings from former leaders PJ Patterson and Dr Peter Phillips to swiftly mend protracted internal tensions if the party wants a chance to return to Government.Yesterday, Councillor Phillips firmly dismissed allegations that she had sought to cross the floor to the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) but had been rejected.Her reference was to a undated letter, on what appeared to be JLP letterhead, circulated on social media stating that her application to become a member of the governing party had been rejected, but she could reapply in the future.The letter had the name of JLP General Secretary Dr Horace Chang as the 'author' and was copied to party Chairman Robert Montague and Deputy Chairman Aundre Franklin.Phillips told the Jamaica Observer that she had no proof, but was certain the fake letter came from within the PNP through the "minions" of certain fractions."I am sure they will deny it. I'm not able to say factually or definitively who among their ranks would have either done it or caused it to be done, but, even the foot soldiers are of the view that it emanated from within the party, and I believe they are right," Phillips said."It was a juvenile attempt at messy politics that Jamaica does not need. A similar letter of resignation was circulated in relation to the then party leader Dr Peter Phillips. The only difference with this one is that they are suggesting that I applied to the JLP, but it is coming out of the belly of that very same beast," she added.But Phillips said "not even a bad attempt of a joke" could reposition PNP President Mark Golding's failure to resonate with the base of the PNP at a time when Jamaicans are facing numerous challenges and are concerned over certain actions of the Andrew Holness Administration."Even at this point Mark Golding and the PNP are failing to be taken serious by the people of Jamaica, at a time when we need a viable Opposition. This kind of nonsensical behaviour is something that just says to the people of Jamaica that the PNP under Mark Golding is not even worthy of consideration at this point," she told the Observer.Earlier in a post on her Twitter page, Phillips said, "So while they creating fake rejection letter for me, they are getting real rejection and no traction from the people of Jamaica. Merry Christmas clowns it's the season to be jolly."The councillor, who had supported Dr Peter Phillips (no relation) when he beat back a challenge to his leadership of the party by Golding's close associate Peter Bunting in 2019, said it was even more disturbing that this was happening on the birthday of Michael Manley and feels it's a deliberate act to take away from the significance of that occasion.She noted that the stark ideological disconnect between herself and a Golding-led PNP led to her separating herself from the party a few months ago, stressing: "This was also designed to take a bit of attention away from what would have been a big focus of emphasis on our maximum leader and the memory of him. It is unfortunate that you don't hear condemnation coming from the leadership of the PNP."Her reference was to the fact that democratic socialism, which was preached by Manley during his tenure in the 1970s, was not embraced by Bunting's Rise United camp in the leadership challenge.Yesterday, chairman of the JLP's public relations committee Matthew Samuda essentially told the Observer that the letter did not emanate from his party."It is true that as the most attractive and responsive political organisation in the western hemisphere, the Jamaica Labour Party which is led by Andrew Holness gets applications for membership on a weekly basis from people of all walks of life, including from various factions of the PNP such as Rise United, One PNP and Four PNP," he said.However, he said the JLP was not, at the moment, aware of any application being submitted by Councillor Phillips.At the same time, he warned people producing fake documents and affixing the names of members of the top brass of the JLP and its logo "to immediately cease and desist from juvenile efforts to scratch for relevance".When the Observer contacted PNP General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell for a comment on the matter, his terse response was, "I have no time for things that have nothing to do with uplifting the people."