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Major endorsements by Patterson, Phillips and Golding

Lisa Hanna, member of parliament (MP) for South East St Ann, was unanimously re-elected chairman of the constituency of the People’s National Party (PNP) at the private session of their annual conference on September 15, 2021, made all the more historic by endorsements from the party’s top brass- former Prime Minister and past PNP President PJ Patterson and Dr Peter Phillips and Mark Golding, former and current party president respectively.

PNP President Mark Golding spoke to “the importance of cohesiveness and the special role the party has to play in the transformation of society from one marked by social privilege to one more egalitarian and just”. 

Noting that the South East St Ann seat is critical to the PNP, he told the re-elected constituency chairman: “Everybody must put comradeship above everything else. Comrade Hanna, you have my full support. I will ensure you succeed.”

In what he said was his “first political outing since the last general election in 2020”, Patterson paid homage to what he described as “the political fortitude” of Hanna, who was returned as MP for South East St Ann in that election.

“Lisa is bright and has the contacts, the outreach, the vision to enable her to make an outstanding contribution,” he declared.

Making a plea for “comrades to work together to strengthen the party as an institution”, Patterson, who has the distinction of being Jamaica’s longest serving prime minister and leading the party to a historic fourth term in a general election, called  for a “united party” and asked members to exercise discipline and respect for each other.

He said he was particularly concerned about “the vitriolic abuse comrades meet out to each other on social media“ and called for discipline to reign in the party organisation.

“Some of what is being said about labourites is also uncalled for. We are not enemies, we are political rivals, all flesh and blood and we must have respect for each other,” he said. 

Patterson called for PNP members to support Party President Mark Golding, noting that “while there might be differences in approach, there are no differences in principles and policies. We must all work together”.

In his remarks, former PNP President Dr Peter Phillips reminded constituency representatives that “the bulwark of the PNP has always been represented by stalwarts of the party and the current MP continues in that vein”.

He added: “Lisa is one of the portfolio members, very important to the party in and out of office. She has the alliances and relationships critical to our development and is doing a commendable job maintaining our relationships with political organisations in the Caribbean, in North America and Europe.

“SE St Ann represents a symbol for the party and serves as a standard bearer for the PNP as a whole.”

Supporting Patterson’s call for a United PNP, Phillips said ”we have to face the basic reality that a house divided against itself will not stand. Jamaica needs the PNP and that responsibility extends from party president to party worker”.

In her remarks, Hanna told the conference that “this has not been the best year for political representation because of restrictions on movement and face-to-face community activity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But, I got through because of your support”.

She said: “We have learnt a lot and thanks to your patience, your criticisms, your advice, we have improved. We will continue to passionately work hard to serve and improve the quality of life of the people of this constituency. We have a new party president. We support him and hope that he can lead us to victory in the next polls.”