By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Perry Christie said he is working on a succession plan to ensure that his party is prepared for a possible transition of leadership ahead of the next general election.

Mr Christie explained that he did not want to reveal his future plans because he did not want to be seen as a “lame duck” for the remainder of his term.

He added that there were several capable candidates with aspirations for leadership of the Progressive Liberal Party, but the decision ultimately rested with delegates.

“We have a wonderful country, we have a wonderful democracy,” he said. “Per chance the people of this party, even Mr (Philip) ‘Brave’ Davis who is my deputy and is a wonderful aspirant, all of them may say ‘Christie we think you better hold on.’

“I don’t know what I’d do if they said that, but this is what happens in a democracy and you can go back to it.”

Mr Christie added: “I’m always prepared, yes (for another term), whether I go another term is another matter but I’m preparing the party and the country for the kind of future it’s going to have.”

Mr Christie reflected on his tenure, and political future, at a ceremony to commemorate his 40th anniversary as a public servant last week.

“The fact that I’m now in my 40th year in public life obviously raises the question of how long will I intend to remain in public life,” he said. “I’ve just been speaking with trustees of the party and listening to them tell me some very interesting things about what they expect.

“The PLP will obviously have to make a determination as to its leadership going into the next general election, I have elected having said what I said earlier to not speak about it because I don’t want to encourage people to see me as a lame duck.

“They were making the point that people when they think that you’re not going to be there, they start doing all sorts of things that ordinarily they wouldn’t do. So I’ve chosen to focus entirely on this term, to focus on the next ensuing period of this term, knowing that this matter is a matter that will be decided upon by the PLP and most certainly by me.

“Whatever is the position, we ought always to have in place succession,” Mr Christie said. “We must always have in place those persons who can really step into my shoes and not to have it go through any kind of major upheaval in the party simply because we weren’t prepared for the transition.”

Mr Christie hinted that the pubic will begin to see signals of the party’s general election plans once its national convention is held next year.

He said he plans to focus the remainder of his term on effectively reducing crime and diversifying the economy.

“We’re going to have a wonderful two years and the scar or the ugliness of that optimism is to do with crime, and that I’m really intent on mounting a major challenge to what is now a real threat out there to the stability of our country and its reputation.

“We have to have a real message to parents who may know, or could they exercise some degree of reason to know, that their children are involved in something that can only imperil their future and possibly their lives.

He added: “We have to for our own future convince these young people who are involved in this life of crime that it doesn’t serve them to continue to do so. Too many of them are dying, being grievously wounded, or locked up.”