At approximately 4.15 pm today, 59-year-old economist and leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Orrett Bruce Golding, will be sworn in as Jamaica’s eighth prime minister in what is expected to be a ceremony packed with pomp and pageantry at King’s House, the official residence of the head of state.

Golding, whose Jamaica Labour Party won last Monday’s General Elections, will be taking office from Portia Simpson Miller, Jamaica’s first woman prime minister, who took the oath of office at this same venue a mere 17 months ago.

Simpson Miller had ascended to the prime ministership after winning a leadership election in the ruling People’s National Party on the retirement of former Prime Minister P J Patterson.

Both Golding and Simpson Miller are from the neighbouring St Catherine villages of Ginger Ridge and Woodhall, respectively, which are only about five miles apart.

Special guests at the ceremony will include Barbados’ Prime Minister Owen Arthur; vice-president of the Cuban Council of State, Esteban Lazo Hernandez; Turks and Cacois Premier Michael Misick; Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Arnold Piggott; Britain’s Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign and Commonwealth Office), Meg Munn; Caricom Secretary-General Edwin Carrington; and three ministers of the Nation of Islam – Richard Muhammad, Carlos Muhammad and Hugh Muhammad.

Yesterday, King’s House was pregnant with preparations and expectations for today’s event, as workmen added the final touches to the venue, performers rehearsed their acts, members of the police and the army, ushers, journalists and organisers of the huge event got ready for today’s delivery.

White and blue chairs and white tents covered the lush green lawn, still glistening with silvery raindrops from early afternoon showers. Plants and flowers shivered in a gentle wind blowing across the grounds, as if anticipating the event scheduled to begin at 4:00 pm and run for one hour.

However, one of the normal features of the process, the presentation of the insignia of the Order of Nation, which carries the title of Most Honourable, will not be included in the procedure.

According to former president of the Senate, Oswald Harding, who chairs the organising committee, “Mr Golding will be sticking by his campaign promise not to accept the title of the Most Honourable. He prefers to be known simply as the Honourable.”

Yesterday, Golding made a brief stop at King’s House to familiarise himself with the arrangements.

Simpson Miller, who will be performing her last act as prime minister when she symbolically hands over office to her successor, will be seated on the platform with Golding.

Reggae singer Richie Stephens will have the honour of singing the National Anthem, a task normally reserved for classical singers. It will be Stephens’ first time singing the anthem on such a prestigious occasion and yesterday he welcomed the opportunity.

“It’s really an honour because, after all, we all are one people and it is an occasion for all of us,” Stephens said.

The JLP’s Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, was on hand all day overseeing the preparations, along with Harding.

Grange said that in addition to Stephens, the entertainment will include the Jamaican Folk Singers, popular gospel group Martin’s Heritage, as well as Shakira Marner, a young singer from Central Village, St Catherine, who, at Golding’s request, will perform the hymn, How Great Thou Art.

The new prime minister, in what is expected to be one of his most memorable political speeches, will speak to issues such as his party’s commitment to “good governance”, JLP sources told the Observer yesterday.

On this topic, he is expected to address proposals to give “greater voice to the people who send us here”, wider Opposition involvement in effective oversight and impeachment provisions to remove from public office, officials who betray public trust, the sources said.

Today’s programme will commence with the welcome from Governor-General Kenneth Hall, who will ask the Suffragan Bishop of Kingston, the Rt Rev Robert Thompson, to say prayers.

Next, Governor-General Hall will read the instrument of office appointing the prime minister, after which Golding will take the oaths of allegiance and office. Hall will then present Golding with the instruments of his appointment as prime minister.

This will be followed by the lowering of the standard of the outgoing prime minister, and the “breaking” of the incoming prime minister’s standard, which will be followed by a fanfare of trumpets.

The programme will conclude with various performances by the entertainers and the singing of the National Anthem.