FORMER ruling People’s National Party (PNP) government minister, Horace Clarke is among seven persons awarded the Order of Jamaica (OJ), one of Jamaica’s highest national honours, in this year’s Independence honours list announced yesterday.

Clarke left the Cabinet and Parliament at the time of the 1997 general elections.

Also on the list is Kingsley Thomas, the managing director of the Development Bank of Jamaica and chairman of the National Housing Trust (NHT), who is credited with conceptualising Highway 2000, the administration’s flagship development.

Other awardees of the OJ are:

* Derick Latibeaudiere, the governor of the Bank of Jamaica;

* Daisy Coke, Jamaica’s most prominent actuary;

* Emile George, attorney-at-law;

* Dr Phyllis MacPherson-Russell, educator; and

* William ‘Bill’ Morris, the Jamaican-born general secretary of Britain’s largest trade union, the Transport and General Workers Union, and chancellor of the University of Technology (UTech) of Jamaica.

The OJ is the island’s fourth highest honour, following the designation of National Hero; the Order of the Nation (ON), which is restricted to governors-general and, recently prime ministers, and the Order of Merit (OM), which is conferred upon a handful of intellectuals, scientists and artists.

On yesterday’s awards list were 29 recipients of the award of Commander of the Order of Distinction (CD) which ranks just below the OJ. Among the most prominent persons among this year’s awardees are Grace, Kennedy’s executive chairman and independent senator, Douglas Orane; industrial relations expert and Jamaica Observer director and former CEO, Dr George Phillip; and Robert Levy, managing director of the Jamaica Broilers Group.

Four former and current parliamentarians have also been awarded the CD.

They are:

* Terrence Gillette (PNP), MP for Western St Mary;

* Mike Henry (JLP), MP for Central Clarendon;

* Karl Samuda (JLP), MP for North Central St Andrew; and

* Dr Douglas Manley, a former MP and member of the 1970s Cabinet headed by his brother, the late Michael Manley. Douglas Manley, a former university professor, however, owes his CD, in part, to his contribution to education

Two bureaucrats, Clive Nicholas, head of tax administration, and Ambassador Stafford Neil, permanent secretary in the foreign ministry, who has just been named the head of Jamaica’s mission to the United Nations in New York, were also named CDs.

Karl Binger, executive director of the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), is among 40 recipients of the Order of Distinction (OD) in the rank of officer.

A badge of honour for gallantry has been awarded posthumously to the late Aubrey Farr, a diver for the Port Authority, who was killed because of his activities to prevent the contamination of export cargo by narcotics.

The second badge of honour for gallantry is awarded to Carlton Smith Jnr “for the valour displayed when he single-handedly rescued his unconscious grandmother from a motor car which was completely submerged in flood waters”, according to the order from the governor-general.

A total of 61 persons have been awarded badges of honour for outstanding service in their vocations.