Edward Seaga Political Man of the Year

Edward Mr. Seaga forced not only own party reasons therefore I �hesi but the his T IS CUSTOMARY at the end For these PNP as well to pay more attentio;1 tatingly select Mr. Seaga as 1961's Political to fundame tals of I ' :i;i political economies, the of every Government year for this column to Man of the Year. s expert planners to exam the relevant int> n_ame a factors and the legislators t� Political Man or Woman of pon<!er, to think and to eXplain. this , P!lrli ar In the Year - that is the person � h� brought a new life to Budget who, ' discussm?s s ••• m Jamaica which had Seaga cl�im to do with nothing in the opinion of this column, has the traditional bridge hereo, the done more to influence the trends llTHAT are Mr. Seaga's claims to this and developments of Jamaican po distinction? In the first place, Mr. Seaga school there, the road in that has played a more significant role in re or the money provided for the Jamaica litics - for good or bad - over the vitalising the Jamaica Labour Party than Agricultural Society and its 'use' or 'misuse! that Party. It by officers of the Society. past twelve months. any other single member of is no secret that the new forward-looking and almost left-wing policies of the JLP Mr. Seaga relatively new on the po from the is ...._.1}-l" customary also that neither of (indeed they are indistinguishable litical scene and many people do not know PNP's) has been due to influence on the who he is. At present he is the youngest Jamaica's his two political giants is named, JLP executive and as Chairman of the member of the Legislative CouncH, intleed party's Policy Planning Committee. He has for both Mr. Manley and Sir Alexander the youngest member of the island's legis given a positive bent to the policy lature. JLP Be is 31. A Bachelor of Artr. of Bustamante stand head and ·shoulders where before it was vague and non-com- Harvard University in Social Science, Mr. mittal. l Seaga was born in Boston. He has been above their colleagues politics so much � in connected with the University College, as so that they would run away with the That is the first basic contribution Mr. an undergrad studying medicine witl• ·fu,· ai of �er doing_psychiatry, as research nomination every year. Seaga made to the political shape of things m a in Jamaica in 1961. �orker sociology and anthropology aml In Jamaican mnrs Ifill folklore, and as a This year was no exception to this rule. lecturer the Extra-mural DeDartment. The second was th e wor k h e d d d urmg in Sir Alexander Bustamante was undoubtedly I the most campaign. With Mr. dominant political factor this year the Referendum Perhaps this mixture of Boston antl by reason of his performance in the Refer Clement Tavares, of South Western St. - Harvard and his in-the-field endum. But it is natural that this should An- of research drew, he was one of Sir Alexander Busta- be so. He is in the position to dominate among pocomanians, rastafarian and simple such a development and he did dominate it mante's principal lieutenants, and the JLP's village folk, has shaped Mr. Seaga's par and create the position where this island · ' organization and campaign during that period is now poised to jump off into form ticular role in politics. My own view largely tumed upon effo e ey i:endence. his rts. H k - t hat this mixture - the puritanism of E noted the whole of tha� campaign th as e ton ii.nd Harvard, and the naked primit principal economio s pokesman for the JLP But apart from the two facts of Jamaica village life - has tend, and probably campaigned throughout the there are other politicians who h, to give Mr. Seaga an almost sterm Biblicai island more thoroughly than any other mem fluenced the political scene anMr. mien, harsh and unbending about his own ber of the JLP to gain the desired result. i spring readily to mind. They prejudices and bel efs, which does not stop ai JOtt consider that the other man may well cen to Millard Johnson, who has formeis 1 But it is not for these things only be right. But this is a trait that can take People's Political Party, and the that Seaga made his impact on the a 196 Mr. polit\cfan very far. At least one other poli- political scene this year. Indee<l, the most Edward Seaga, the Assistant Sec� H l important feature of his career this year tician in �maica has it and he has gone of the Jamaica Labour Party. Botb_ was the furore he awakened over his far_ -' loomed large on the island's po ptoposition about the "Haves" and "Have-Nots'•. It was in 1959 that Mr. Seaga join<!d scene in differing ways, Mr. Johns the Jamaica Labour Party and was ap a negative way, through fear, Mr. pointed a member of the Legislative Council. No previous Budget Session of the '!;he following year he was elected Assistant in a positive way through his 'work Jamaica Legislature approached the con , f§ecretary of the JLP, and this year he was _ appointed Chairman h part'y's Polk'Y the leadership of the Jamaica L1 troversial excitement of the past Budget of t e Committee. Party. Mr. Seaga's preemm�nce, t ere Session and his statements and proposi tions about this still controversial sub / Althougfi he is a member of fore, could be due to circumstances· - ject - not all Jamaicans are sure who still the is Legislative Council, where he is one of the he belongs to an already established right - underlined in part the decision outstanding members, Mr. Seaga wants to party and is therefore in a position to in of the Government to depat; from tradi get into th� stream of activ-e grassroots poli tics. He campaign as a canilldat for tional Budget making this · year even e fluence the course of poli,tical life, while will though novemment spokesmen the JLP in West Kingston during the forth insisted coming elections, (replacing the Hon. Hugh belongs to no established Mr. Johnson that Mr. Seaga had misin,terpreted the Sheaifer). political party and does not at this writ- economic facts of life in Jamaica. .. .-----�-· ing appear to be in a position to influence voting trends in Jamaica in any but a Sunday Cleaner, December 31, 1961 negative and perhaps irritating way. .

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