Seaga and Samuda KARL SAMUDA, returned in 1995 to the JLP, from which he was expelled in 1990 in the wake of the "Gang-of-Five" rebellion against Mr. Seaga'
s reportedly autocratic leadership style. Mr. Samuda joined the People'
s National Party but crossed the floor and re-entered the folds of the JLP having lit his candle, sung his sankey and wended his way back home.
On rejoining the JLP he was immediately appointed Leader of Government Business in the House, "a key position" in which, according to a JLP insider, "he must enjoy the confidence of the Leader of the Opposition".
Party insiders say Mr. Samuda seemed set on a collision course with his party leadership after he was thrashed 75 votes to 35 by Dr. Ken Baugh for the post of general secretary in elections on December 12, 1999. He was absent from the party'
s weekly Standing Committee meetings until in May 2000 when the party chairman spoke to him about his absenteeism.
With several expressions of dissidence surfacing in the JLP, amid reports of Clifton Stone, MP for Clarendon North West, planning to cross the floor and some MPs trying hard to bring back Bruce Golding, a former JLP chairman and now president of the NDM, to lead the JLP, things started going down hill for Samuda. This was after he had a meeting of "like-minded people" at his house in Linstead, St. Catherine, at which he was reported to have called for open discussions with the NDM. Mr. Samuda denied this emphatically last night.
As recently as Sunday he was reported to have been asked at a meeting of JLP councillors and councillor-caretakers about the reported discussions with the National Democratic Movement and he replied that "no authorised discussions were taking place."
Senator Ryan Peralto, JLP Chairman, told The Gleaner yesterday that Mr. Samuda had been "proceeding on his own to attempt to organise meetings of party members to examine and to carry out analyses of party operations which are normally matters that if a member is concerned about, they bring to the attention of the officers of the party and the councils of the party, which are constitutionally structured to address such matters.
"And he (Samuda) is a member of the Standing Committee which is the main operating unit of the party on a day-to-day and weekly basis, supported by the Operations Council which does it on a day-to-day basis, Standing Committee being on a weekly basis.
"And therefore it was felt that any concerns that he has about any matter which he felt should be pursued at this time, ought properly to be brought there... not for him to indulge in seeking to mobilise members of the party and this was brought to his attention".
He said Mr. Samuda had had a meeting previously and "we told him that that was not the way to go." Then the party learned of another meeting he was proposing to have which coincidentally and very peculiarly was about to be held on the same weekend on which we were launching this intensive programme of getting closer to constituency organisations to assist them to mobilise and to create better understanding of the party'
s objectives and programmes, to deal with issues of policy and manifesto in terms of reviewing them with a view to possibly making changes or adjustments which is properly the prerogative of the leadership units of the party constituted for that purpose.... and where any member can take whatever their views are to that committee for sifting. That particular committee is headed by the leader of the party."
The JLP announced Tuesday night that Mr. Samuda had been replaced by Mr. Derrick Smith as Leader of Opposition Business.
According to Senator Peralto yesterday, "Mr. Samuda, to us, appears to be acting entirely outside of his authority and his role. As a member of the Standing Committee, he ought properly to bring those matters there first to seek to get them addressed.
To make matters worse, he was planning at his second meeting to do in-depth planning or discussion of a "sensitive area of party operation" -- policy -- independent of the structure that is set up to do it, and a structure headed by the party leader.
"As Chairman I would say that that is entirely out of order... and I advised him when I learned of it... that he ought properly as a member of Standing Committee to bring the matter to Standing Committee requesting that such an exercise be carried out. But what is most disconcerting to the party is the fact that that is an exercise that is a normal exercise on the agenda of the party as it approaches any election period."
