THE People’s National Party (PNP) officer corps and Parliamentary Group on Monday night voted overwhelmingly to remove St Elizabeth North Eastern Member of Parliament Raymond Pryce as the party’s deputy general secretary, PNP insiders told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.
The decision, taken at a joint meeting of both groups, came hours after busloads of Pryce supporters travelled from his constituency to Kingston, Monday, and flooded the PNP’s Old Hope Road headquarters in a failed last-ditch attempt to have the party’s leadership change its decision regarding who represents the organisation in the next general election.
Pryce, who won the seat in the December 29, 2011 General Election, has been replaced as the candidate for the next poll by St Elizabeth businessman Evon Redman, a powerful figure in the PNP’s St Elizabeth hierarchy. That decision was made last September, following a drawn-out selection process that saw Pryce making a last-minute withdrawal and Redman winning the exercise with 339 ‘yes’ votes of the 467 delegates who cast ballots.
But ever since that event, there has been growing discontent in the constituency, and Monday’s decision to remove Pryce could add more bad gas to the already well-lit orange furnace that the PNP has been grappling to keep cool.
Only one member of the group voted for him to remain as deputy general secretary, the party insider said, adding that the decision will now go to the PNP’s National Executive Council for final approval.
Pryce is the deputy general secretary with responsibility for communication.
There is a view within party circles that, although he has publicly voiced his support for Redman’s candidacy, it has not been manifested in clear action.
“He needs to face reality and accept that the party has made a decision, and acknowledge the fact that it is time for him to move on,” one PNP source said last night.
“The party has no solid evidence that Raymond is behind the latest protests, but he needs to come out forcefully and condemn such action. That is missing. It therefore could be seen that he is encouraging such behaviour if he stays at a distance and says very little to those who are supporting these so-called protests,” the party elder said.
Calls made to Pryce’s cellular phone went unanswered last night.
The conflict that has gripped the PNP machinery in St Elizabeth North Eastern is not the only one that has dogged the party in recent months.
The party still has to contend with pockets of resistance in Trelawny Northern, which will be represented by civil engineer John-Paul White, over incumbent Patrick Atkinson, the attorney general, who at the start of this week issued a statement pledging his support to White and urging supporters to rally behind the newcomer to politics in the parish.
The PNP seemed to have got over several other skirmishes in other constituencies, although murmurs of simmering discontent have popped up on occasions.
This is just a distraction. The Auditor General is reporting major fraud at the NIS. It’s so bad that all of us that spent years contributing to the scheme might end up with nothing. Sorry for the poor people that this is going to severely affect. Mi waan know why any ministry Fenton Ferguson go to have such crosses. One man can salt so. Him need fi visit some a the St. Thomas obeahman dem fi a bathe off.
no sah a wha really a gwaan? n how porshus him so silent?