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SeagaLloyd Williams, Senior Associate Editor
OPPOSITION LEADER Edward Seaga says he has no intention of stepping down now and have people he described as "dissidents" hijack the leadership of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
"It is my objective to quell all of that and get rid of all of that before I step away," he told The Sunday Gleaner last week. "I am not leaving the Labour Party in a position where it is going to be overtaken by any gang whose intention is to hijack it and seize leadership for themselves when they do not have the capability of leadership...
"...Once that is there, then I feel my job has been done. Whether the people wish me to continue after that or whether I wish to continue after that, is a matter for decision".
Mr. Seaga was speaking in the wake of criticism triggered by his firing of Karl Samuda on Wednesday as Leader of Opposition Business in the House, that the JLP was not only disunited but was disintegrating fast under his leadership.
He denies the disunity charge, insisting that the party is united but for a small clique of dissidents with an agenda to take over leadership of the party.
Mr. Samuda's removal was spark-ed by private meetings he organised and had scheduled to discuss issues the leadership of the JLP felt should best be discussed at official party meetings.
He told The Sunday Gleaner that his removal would in no way diminish his involvement in political activity as he would remain Member of Parliament for St. Andrew North Central and continue to debate motions and pursue issues vigorously in Parliament.
Mr. Seaga told The Sunday Gleaner that Mr. Samuda's appointment as JLP spokesman for Industry and Commerce still stood.
In a wide-ranging interview in his New Kingston offices on Thursday Mr. Seaga, who has headed the JLP since 1974, said for the last 10 years he had been trying to settle the party into a new political culture not based on dominant personality, but on systems, structures and processes "on the basis of which I could then step out and a new successor step in."
But he said his efforts were disrupted by three attempts at destabilisation of his leadership - the "Gang of Five" dissidents in the early 1990s, Bruce Golding and the Western Jamaica "Gang of 11" in the mid-1990s, and now a group in which he says Mr. Samuda is involved.
