PORTIA Simpson Miller yesterday accepted Dr Peter Phillips' challenge for leadership of the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) but complained that up to the time she was issuing the statement, her rival had not officially informed her of his decision.

SIMPSON MILLER... the team that I lead is up to the task to meet this impending challenge (Photo: Karl McLarty)

Simpson Miller, the PNP president and Opposition leader, also appeared to chide Phillips, a vice-president, for doing what no other had in 70 years of the PNP - challenge a sitting party leader.

"I have seen and heard reports throughout the media; and have received several calls from Comrades of the People's National Party and the wider citizenry of Jamaica that Comrade Peter Phillips has made known his intention to resuscitate his candidacy for the office of leader of the People's National Party," she said in a statement to the press.

"Not having heard directly from Comrade Phillips, I am relying on the truth of these reports as I acknowledge the democratic right of any member of the party to aspire to any elected position within our movement.

"The People's National Party has an enviable reputation for internal democracy; this is, however, the first time in our history that a sitting president of the party is being challenged and in the year of our 70th anniversary no less," Simpson Miller complained.

She also made a point of the fact that Phillips' challenge, "should it materialise", would also come "at the same time when all the polls have reflected what has been widely known for several months that the people of Jamaica have determined that the current administration being led by Bruce Golding is grossly incapable of meeting their needs or allowing them to realise their dreams".

That was immediately read as a suggestion that his move to oust her as president would let the JLP off the hook, by distracting party attention and resources away from the troubles of the nine-month-old government.

"Nevertheless, team People's National Party - the team that I lead is up to the task to meet this impending challenge,"
she added.

Simpson Miller's statement came a day after Phillips used a lowly divisional conference in Harbour View, St Andrew to announce his challenge, and end persistent whispers that he would be seeking the reins of the party which turns 70 years in September.

The decision is bound to reopen old wounds - which some say have not yet healed - from the bruising presidential campaign bid by the two and Drs Omar Davies and Karl Blythe, to succeed P J Patterson in 2006.

Many of Phillips' supporters turned up Sunday at Harbour View Primary to show renewed commitment. And Simpson Miller suffered her first casualty with the defection of Manchester businessman and PNP financier, Kenneth 'Skeng Don' Black who arrived at Phillips' meeting as part of an eight-vehicle entourage.

In a 35-minute speech to the PNP gathering, Phillips, who has been vice-president since 1999, said "Jamaica has always called on the PNP when the country is in crisis", and that while it was "easy to stand up and cuss Labourites", the current situation would not get any better. He said Jamaica was facing its biggest crisis since Independence, one that c****ined social, economic and political issues.

"We need a new politics that does not make election seem like war..." Phillips said.

Commenting on the challenge, lecturer in the University of the West Indies (UWI) Department of Government and talk-show host, Dickie Crawford said the challenge "could not have come at a worst time".

"The timing is awkward. We saw how fractious things became with the long, drawn out presidential campaign and there are real fears that a prolonged campaign will just worsen a very bad situation," Crawford said in an interview yesterday.

Crawford, who along with UWI professor, Brian Meeks worked on the Meeks Report to the party, expressed disappointment that the PNP had made very little attempt at healing the wounds of 2006 and the general election campaign.

"The party has all but discarded the recommendations of the Meeks report, which had several recommendations of a way forward. Instead, since the narrow election loss, sections of the PNP seemed dead set on removing the leader which, of course, is their democratic right," he said.

Simpson Miller hoped that "once this has been settled we may all refocus our attention on continuing the development agenda of our country."

But pressing ahead, Phillips is already planning his launch campaign.

"In another two to two-and-a-half weeks time, the campaign will be launched," Donovan Nelson, a Phillips aide said yesterday.

The party's executive was expected to set out the ground rules for the campaign at a meeting last night.