Headlines:
| Bruce Golding’s journey to Jamaica House |
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| Tuesday, 11 September 2007 | |
A new chapter in Jamaica's political history opens Tuesday
with the swearing in of Bruce Golding as the country's eighth Prime Minister. More than 3,000 guests including foreign dignitaries are scheduled to attend the ceremony which will take place at Kings House starting at 4 o'clock. Following the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) victory at the polls last Monday, Mr. Golding's long wait for one of the highest offices in the land, will be over. His journey to Jamaica House started when he was only two years old - when his father Tacius Golding was first elected as a Member of the House of Representatives for West St. Catherine. The young Golding was very close to his father and started traveling with him to political meetings and by 1962 he was responsible for setting up and operating the public address system at public meetings. A few years later while studying at the University of the West Indies in 1967, he suspended his studies in order to take charge of his father's campaign. In 1968 he was elected Vice Chairman of the JLP Constituency Executive for West St. Catherine. He represented the party in West St. Catherine in the General Election of 1976 but was defeated. In 1977 he decided to withdraw from representational politics. But following the 1980 General Election Bruce Golding was re-appointed to the Senate and appointed Minister of Construction in the new JLP government. Following the JLP's defeat in 1989 he was named Shadow Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. In 1995 Bruce Golding walked away from the Jamaica Labour Party and founded the National Democratic Movement (NDM). Seven years later in September 2002 he rejoined the JLP and in 2005 took over the leadership of the party from Edward Seaga. He led the JLP to victory during last week's General Election with the party winning 33 seats to the PNP's 27. |