Assamba going to London

Expects to take up high commissioner post April

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

FORMER People's National Party (PNP) parliamentarian and Cabinet minister Aloun N'Dombet-Assamba is Jamaica's next high commissioner to London. Assamba will replace former Senator Anthony Johnson, who took up the post in 2010 after being transferred from Washington, DC, the American capital by the then Bruce Golding Administration to make way for Audrey Marks.

Yesterday, when the Observer sought to find out from Assamba when she would begin her tour of duty, she said "not until about April".

"I have not absorbed it yet. I am now thinking of all the adjustments I will have to make to go there," she said.

Assamba won the St Ann South East constituency for the PNP in the 2002 general election, but left representational politics before the 2007 poll.

She was replaced by Lisa Hanna, who has won the seat in the last two general elections.

Before entering politics as a senator, Assamba, an attorney, made a name for herself as a sagacious businesswoman during her tenure as general manager of the City of Kingston Co-operative Credit Union.

She was appointed minister of tourism, entertainment and culture in the PJ Patterson-led Government in October 2002, and before that served as junior minister in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Technology.

Assamba also gained public attention during her tenures as acting chairman of the Fair Trading Commission, deputy chairman of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission and as a mediator and trainer for the Dispute Resolution Foundation of Jamaica.