PNP responds after week of silence on Anderson smear recording

Seven days after an audio clip circulated in which two people said to be People’s National Party (PNP) figures were heard talking about how to undermine Major General Antony Anderson’s standing as head of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA), the opposition has finally spoken on the controversy.

The matter topped the agenda when the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) convened on Sunday. That session is typically the final NEC sitting ahead of the annual conference in September, if a conference is held. A press conference planned for after the NEC did not go ahead.

Instead, journalists received a party-produced video in which PNP President Mark Golding raised the leak before turning to his main remarks.

“Before I get into the issues relating to this National Executive Council meeting, I want to say something on the issue swirling out there about these leaked recordings. I think it is necessary for us to say something. The PNP chose not to comment publicly on that matter until we had the facts before us,” said Golding.

He continued: “Our review is now complete and it established three things. Firstly, the conversations in which those leaked recordings took place did not happen in any official party forum. Secondly, no party officer, no officer of the party participated in that discussion, and thirdly, the PNP has no official NEC or executive WhatsApp group. That doesn’t exist, and certainly not where party policy is made.”

“This was a WhatsApp group formed by individuals within the party, and the views expressed were their personal views. So those recordings do not represent the official recordings of the PNP, or any policy of the PNP. The PNP takes responsibility for its official positions; those are set by our constitutional organs, such as this National Executive Council or the executive committee of the party and those that are communicated by our authorised representatives and shown through our public actions or public media, social media outlets, and so on. So with that clarified, I just want to turn to the matter at hand ... .”

The video of the NEC session stopped there, with no exchange of questions shown. At NEC sittings, which function as the party’s top decision-making forum outside the annual conference, members have long been known to speak up freely.

The leak appeared to leave the PNP scrambling. It surfaced only hours after talk began of a possible bid against Golding’s leadership at what would be the organisation’s 89th annual conference in 2027. Speculation about an internal split then spread across social media, a free-for-all environment, until Damion Crawford, the member of parliament for St Catherine North Western and the figure named as a possible rival, answered publicly.

Crawford stated plainly that he had not indicated any plan to seek the leadership, while stressing that he retains the right to do so. He pointed to what he called disrespect from his own party despite his efforts, and to being branded “hype man in chief” even though, he said, ideas of his had fed into the party’s programme for the 2025 general election. He listed 10 such measures, among them a rent-to-own housing model, national insurance covering children and the elderly, and raising the tax threshold instead of hiking income tax rates.

“Despite multiple approaches from Comrades throughout the island, I have made no public announcement to offer myself for any position of leadership within the PNP at this time. However I remind all and sundry that doing so remains my fundamental right as a duly registered member of the party,” said Crawford.

“Furthermore, as per the established rules of the party, there is no election for the president or vice-president until September 2027 [as] it would be increasingly damaging to the movement to endure a 14-month sustained internal campaign. This reality seems completely lost on those coordinating this attack on PNP members,” a portion of Crawford’s reply, which also appeared on social media, stated.

His comments pointed to friction inside the party and uneasy personal ties. “I have reduced my own presence, literally jumping walls to avoid cheers upon entrance, and choosing to flee situations where there was a clear reason to fight, just to preserve the party’s image. I will maintain my silence for the same reason,” he said, adding that the nickname given to him would have stung had he not understood the value of his policy input.

After the Sunday NEC, tension still seemed evident. Those leaving the session refused to talk to the handful of reporters on hand. The Gleaner was informed that the issue had been dealt with and that a video would be circulated. One person leaving asked why the press was there; another wondered whether she had been called to a different gathering, saying she preferred to turn up “when there is peace, and not pieces”.

Golding was said to be travelling early on Monday, and the lengthy meeting led to the scrap of the scheduled post-NEC briefing that was to have included the president, the general secretary and the chairman.