In his choice of a Cabinet-in-waiting, Dr Peter Phillips has accentuated, rather than dissipated, the shadows of damaging divisions in the People’s National Party (PNP). This is bad news for a nation that relies so heavily on the dynamic and often tense interplay of two dominant political forces. It is never good when one of them is so hobbled by internal conflict that the other is tempted to steal a march or two.
The Rise United faction in the PNP came within a whisker of snatching leadership of the party last month. And only the delegates could vote in that contest. There are credible indications that Rise’s ethos of renewal attracts a sizeable, even a majority, proportion of likely PNP voters. In sum, Peter Bunting represents the most formidable challenger to a party leader in the nation’s political history. The raw truth is that the PNP cannot return to government flying on one wing.
Good sense would have had it that none of this would have been lost on Dr Phillips. We thought he would see that his first and most important task would be to unify the Comrades rather than to solidify party leadership in his own image and likeness. For that is what he appears to have done in his choice of opposition spokespersons.
The exclusion of Dr Dayton Campbell, Dr Angela Brown Burke, Ian Hayles and Luther Buchanan raises suspicion of petulance and vindictiveness. By any account, Dr Campbell has been one of the best-prepared and forceful spokespersons on health in recent memory. There could be no basis other than pique for him to have been bypassed.
The same is true of Angela Brown Burke, who has an unparalleled depth of experience in the area of local government. Former state minister with responsibility for water, Ian Hayles, has talent for the sector, as does his fellow firebrand, Luther Buchanan, in the field of agriculture and rural development.
The two common factors of the four are their talent, by comparison to the neophytes who are to replace them, and the fact that they all supported Phillips’ challenger.
Of the Rise camp, is it that only Golding, Ferguson and Bunting are worthy of ministerial consideration? If that were to be so, the PNP is in even more dire circumstances than many envisaged. Many of the appointees will have a long learning curve, which will hamper their performance and, no doubt, their public acceptance. All this with an election not far away and voters not yet convinced that the PNP has much that is new and different to offer.
Regretfully, Peter Phillips has missed every opportunity for serious healing so far. There was the iciness on the evening of September 7, the slight and superficiality at the annual conference, and now in the cobbling together of the Shadow Cabinet.
Ironically, though, the stellar choice in the new line-up is the assignment of Peter Bunting to the crucial portfolio of education and training. His business acumen, courage, and coming unfettered to any of the encrusted notions and institutions in the sector will very likely produce good results. So, too, is the introduction of Victor Wright, an experienced professional, to oversee agriculture.
Noticeably absent in the announced shadow portfolios is someone savvy and strong to oversee the vital area of information gathering and dissemination. The advocacy of complete and truthful information being available to the public is a political, as well as, a national responsibility. In an era of fake news and the substitution of slick and misleading public-relations propaganda instead of accurate and timely information, this portfolio assumes uncommon importance and appears to have been overlooked.
In all events, we wish the party well as its shadow Cabinet embarks on a refinement of its policies that would distinguish a PNP government from what we have now. At Annual Conference, Dr Phillips told us a lot that we knew already. In the serious area of crime prevention, for instance, the country needs to know the PNP’s alternative crime plan now that the party has apparently reversed itself into acquiescence with the semi-perpetual states of emergency.
