#JamaicaElection2020 Part 1: Peter Phillips The Proven Perfomer

Now as my hand has forced by the impending election, I will pen two articles one for the JLP and one for the PNP. But as you see from the results the direction of the two articles will differ. my biases may even come out, but what I will write are two articles describing the leadership of both parties. 

Let's start with the PNP and Dr. Peter Phillips.

Peter David Phillips was born December 28, 1949, which means that he is 70 years old as of today. He entered representational politics as a senator in 1989 after the PNP landslide victory against the JLP. He served as State Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister up to 1991, he was elected General Secretary of the PNP that same year.  He served as Special Projects Minister until 1994, serving through the transition from Michael Manley to PJ Patterson. 

In 1993  general election he was elected as Member of Parliament for East Central St. Andrew and has held the seat in subsequent elections. For the period 1993 to 2007, he served as a Minister of Government under the PNP regime. Firstly her served as Minister of Health (1995-1997), Minister of Transport and Works (1998-2002), and Minister of National Security(2002-2007).  

In 2006 in a bitter Presidential runoff among four candidates for President of the PNP, he came second to Portia Simpson Miller, after the PNP's defeat in 2007 he challenged Portia Simpson Miller for the Presidency again in 2008. After which he stepped down as Vice President of the Party a position which he held since 1999.  

To mend an obviously fractured PNP, Dr. Phillips and then Opposition Leader Simpson Miller formed a truce, where he was selected as Campaign Director which one a landslide victory against the new-minted Prime Minister Andrew Holness in December 2011.   

Dr. Phillips's crowning achievement as a politician so far was his de facto leadership of government through the period 2011-2016 where he served ad Minister of Finance. In his role, he helped negotiate a new agreement with the IMF whose Austerity measures saw Jamaica being put back on track to fiscal stability following the 2008 World Recession.

In 2016, with the PNP seeking a new mandate, he again was named Campaign Manager with full knowledge that if the PNP won in short order he would have ascended to both Presidency of PNP and the Prime Ministry of Jamaica. However through missteps of his own during the campaign, as well as a miscalculation of the JLPs message, the PNP lost the election in 2016 by a surprise JLP victory and one-seat majority. 

As Opposition leader, he has been the thorn in the side of the Holness administration touting scandal after scandal and vocal about every misstep or perceived misstep. He and the PNP have also not wavered in the tout that everything the JLP has achieved as a government was based on foundations laid by the PNP. 

In 2019 as his popularity among Jamaicans waned and his approval ratings plummet below the populist prime minister Andrew Holness he was challenged by Peter Bunting for the presidency of the PNP. Even though he retained the presidency he only did so by only 76 votes. or less than a two percent margin of victory. The leadership challenged fractured the PNP again. The PNP MPs also split down the middle, however, the party has tried to present a unified front.  After a shadow cabinet reshuffle Phillips appointed Bunting as Shadow Spokesman on Education. Bunting was also,  most recently appointed co-campaign director a position once held by Phillips himself. This show of unity still hasn't been able to mask the obvious fact that Peter Bunting has been positioned as the next leader of the party if the PNP were to lose the next election.

In early 2020 Peter Phillips was diagnosed and has undergone treatment for cancer, although he touts a clean bill of health after undergoing treatment, many believe that he should step down as party leader due to his health as well as his unfavorability among the populace. 

Coming into the 2020 election Dr. Peter Phillips is touted as the proven performer has every position he has held he has done well. He has to given that accolade, he is a proven performer and probably the person who deserves to be prime minister. 

Dr.  Peter Phillips also represents the diamond era of the PNP, as he served as part of the government for all 18 years of a continuous PNP administration. It is important to note that the voting populace does not relish the period in the same way as they demonstrated in 2007 with Bruce Golding and 2016 with Andrew Holness. If the PNP wants to win the 2020 election they have to show how their government will not only differ from the current JLP administration but also how it differs from PNP administrations  in the past.