Building a Better Jamaica

BY BALFORD HENRY Observer senior reporter henryb@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, May 01, 2012

THE Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) yesterday announced a five-member Independent Strategic Review Commission (ISRC) which will, among other things, seek answers to the low voter turnout in the most recent elections, and articulate strategies to convert the "broad mass of disaffection" into JLP support.

The commission, headed by professor of sociology, psychology and social work at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Bernard Headley, also include Rev Dr Maitland Evans, president of the International University of Caribbean and chairman of the Mel Nathan Institute, a 34-year-old inner-city empowerment project started in Hannah Town, West Kingston; Dr Marcia Forbes, communications specialist and media veteran; Dr Lloyd Waller, lecturer in methodology in the Department of Government at the UWI, Mona; and Professor Neville Swaby, a finance and banking expert who heads the University of Technology (UTech)/Jamaican Institute of Management (JIM) School of Advanced Management.

JLP Leader Andrew Holness said that the team will report to the party by November, at which time their proposals, as well as those of segments of the party currently involved in internal assessment, is likely to be incorporated into a new vision the JLP hopes will sweep it back to power by the next general election.

Holness indicated that the JLP is hoping to complete the process by its next annual conference, which is likely to be staged in November at the National Arena.

"Our goal is to win the next general election," Holness told yesterday's press conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, New Kingston to announce the review team.