'Late in the day to run for seat'

Following news yesterday that he would be returning to Jamaica Labour Party, The Gleaner caught up with Bruce Golding for a brief interview. Below are excerpts of his responses to questions.

DG: Have you returned to The JLP?

BG: There are seven points of agreement which will be released as soon as we have signed off on the draft release that will be attached to it. So the JLP is to get back to me momentarily.

DG: Will you be running in a constituency?

BG: No. That's not part of what has been agreed. It's kind of late in the day for that. What I need to do is to push this new agenda to have that recognised and accepted as part of the new thrust to move this country forward along with the other critical things that have to do with trying to get the economy going and so on.

That seems to me to be the immediate challenge that I have to face. I am not at this point sort of seeking to secure a constituency base. The important thing to me: I think we have made a major breakthrough in getting agreement on some issues, some of them you see has to do with some restructuring in terms of the committees of Parliament, how they function.

DG: What do you hope to bring to the JLP?

BG: I am going to hit the road and I am going to try and impress upon people the fact that we are talking about some fundamental changes and some fundamental commitments that are given, not just to me but to the public of Jamaica and therefore that's what I am going to be inviting people to embrace.

DG: Won't your credibility suffer because of this move?

BG: No, because I think one has to look at the basis on which I am re-engaging. If I was simply saying I have abandoned all of these principles and in the interest of the country and in order to get out the government and all that sort of nonsense, I am going to re-engage with the JLP that's one thing.

But if someone looks at the principles that have been agreed and they looked at all that I have been saying with persistence over the last seven years, they will see that there may be a different approach to achieve the changes that are necessary for Jamaica, but the fundamentals are there. Without those fundamentals we wouldn't have got this far.

DG: Won't people in the NDM feel that you have betrayed them?

BG: I have no doubt but it depends on how they look at it. If they look at the NDM as something that is what we are committed to in and of itself then they would feel that way.

But then, if they did, then all that the NDM would be, is just another political organisation. I believe that the NDM is much more than that. The NDM represents a body of principles. Now if a substantial part, almost all of those principles are the subject of a clear unequivocal commitment with deadlines, I don't know that you can say that I have been a traitor or I have betrayed the NDM cause.

What I am in fact seeking to do is to advance the NDM cause, but to advance it through a route and channel that offers earlier prospect of getting traction and getting implementation than pursuing it through the NDM. The fact of the matter is that breaking into the two-party tradition in Jamaica is an enormously difficult task. I recognised it when we started the NDM. It continues to be a difficult task and the question is do you leave the principles languishing while you try to break that tradition or do you try and get the tradition to transform itself to embrace those principles and that essentially is what I sought to do.

DG: Can the JLP win this election?

BG: Elections are funny. We have never seen that sort of volatility before. I believe that there are a lot of people out there who are thinking. I think that there are a lot of people who are watching to see what are the real options that they have before them before they decide how to vote. Hopefully, this development that is now unfurling will help them to have a clear understanding as to what the options are.