The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

LABOUR Minister Shane Gibson was against the suggestion yesterday that Progressive Liberal Party members interested in vying for party leadership should declare their intentions well ahead of the party’s convention.

“I think persons involved in the process have been involved in the process awhile,” said Mr Gibson, who will serve as chairman for the convention.

“They know strategically when they should start to make their move. Those who know that they should do it early will do it early. Those who know that they should wait until the last minute to declare will wait until the last minute to declare. I think we have to appreciate that these people have been at this for a long time and so they know strategically when they should declare what they are going to do.”

With the convention set for November, anxiety exists in the party over the uncertainty about who will make a leadership bid, particularly because Prime Minister Perry Christie has not revealed whether he will run again.

Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe have both expressed an interest in becoming leader, but both have said they would not challenge Mr Christie if he chooses to seek it again.

Amid leadership concerns, PLP chairman Bradley Roberts said over the weekend that the party cannot afford “bickering, backbiting and discord,” calling for unity ahead of the convention.

For his part, Mr Gibson said: “I have never heard of an organisation in my life where everybody agreed with everything. I saw the other day when they were talking about the FNM not being pleased with Hubert Minnis’ leadership. When you go to the church, I saw where the church had to be taken to Court the other day because of differences with the different pastors.

“If you can show me one organisation where everybody is on the same accord with every single thing then I would like to see that organisation. I think it’s only right that when you have an organisation, you have unity as much as possible. Will you ever have perfect unity?

“No, you won’t,” he said.

“If you have an election, I’ve never seen us have an election where everyone voted for one person. There’s always some vote for one and some vote for others. In some instance, inevitably, we believe in one person more than another. But the proper thing to do is to be unified to the greatest extent possible.”

Mr Gibson added that “plans are going very, very well” ahead of the convention.

“All of our supporters are very, very excited about it,” he said. “As you know, this is the first convention in awhile and everybody is excited about hearing of our future plans in terms of moving the country forward and in terms of our accomplishments since we’ve been in power.

“The leadership race is a part of governance. It’s a part of political parties, part of what people expect during a convention. No doubt about it, when convention comes around, every position becomes vacant and people will be excited about who is running for the various positions, including leader, deputy leader, chairman, deputy chairman, treasure and so on.”