Hide Article Text (OCR)
‘Bus tour not a campaign launch’Gary SpauldingSenior Gleaner WriterAS THE People’s National Part) (PNP) hits the road on its two-day near-islandwide political jaunt, its secretariat remains adamant that the extensive bus tour does not signal the official start of the party s election campaign “No, not all, declared PNP Deputy General Secretary Julian Robinson late yesterday in response to Gleaner queries, even as party functionaries sought to put the final touches to its plans “We are not viewing this as a campaign activity per se You would have remembered that the idea originated from K D Knight (the senior attorney for the PNP in the Manatt-Dudus commission of enquiry ), but has been broadened to incorporate other areas as well, so it is not a campaign launch He said PNP President Portia Simpson Miller and a cadre of PNP leaders will be on hand to assume the helm this morning at the Naggo Head square in Portmore. St Catherine, fmm where the bus tour will take offAccording to Robinson, Simpson Miller, fresh fmm a recent trip overseas, would be in the driver’s seat from the word go’.“The leadership of the party will also be there, as well as some of the local leadership in Portmore and the wider St Catherine area.” he revealedBut in response to another query. Robinson conceded that the turnout was likely to be used to measure the level of ground support being enjoyed by the party “It obviously will be a good way to test our support We haven't been on the ground in this sort of fashion for a very long time, so 1 think it is a good way to test the support, he assertedREGISTERING ITS DISSATISFACTIONHe noted that all three popularity polls (The Gleaner Bill Johnson; CVM Don Anderson and Boxill/TVJ polls) show the PNP comfortably ahead “But you would want to also get a feel fmm the ground and this will allow us to do so. he told The Gleaner Asked what specifically the Opposition party expected to achieve fmm its so-called bus tour. Robinson characterised it as a way of registering its dissatisfaction with the way the governing Jamaica Labour Party has operated over the past four y ears “How it had handled the Manatt issues; thetotal breakdow n in trust; the issues out of the Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme, the Government's handling of the public sector/civil servants' wage negotiations and a my riad of other issues, and we as a party, want to take our message out on the mad. so it’s a combination of things, he said.Robinson told The Gleaner late yesterday that he expected approximately 500 supporters to send off the motorcade from the Naggo Head square in Portmore at 8 o’clock this morningWe will have a quick launch of the bus tour, with a few short speeches.devotion and send us on our way. he disclosed. “We have had extensive preparation in this regardHe added; “The police, with our own internal security, have been in constant dialogue and we anticipate and expecl that the muting has been done in such a way that we will minimise disruptions to public activities ... a great degree of thought has been put into the plans to ensure peace and ordergary.frpaulding(a glea nerjm. com
Newspaper Details
Kingston Gleaner
Kingston, Kingston, JM
Wed, Jul 20, 2011
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Amanda H.
USA 19 Jul 2023
Other Publications Near Kingston, Kingston
Kingston Gleaner
Kingston Weekly Gleaner
Kingston Outlook Magazine
Colonial Standard
De Cordovas Advertising Sheet
