Former energy minister, attorney-at-law Clive Mullings, has gone full circle since his days of heavy involvement in socialism and the black power movement.

Mullings, 52, lost his job on April 6 when Prime Minister Bruce Golding trimmed his then 19-member Cabinet to 17.

For some of those who have been journeying with Mullings since he came here as a youngster, aged six from England in the 1960s to live in the Waltham Park Road area of the capital, the trip has been laden with fruitful and sometimes bittersweet harvests.

Control engineer and information and communications technology consultant Dr Patrick Dallas witnessed Mullings’ rise from close up. After all, Dallas attended Kingston College with Mullings from 1969 to 1976 and up to April 6 was special advisor to the then minister of energy.

“What you remember most about Clive at school was that he was someone who was always trying to debate something,” Dallas recalled. “You only needed someone to make a point with any sort of insistence and ‘Mullo’ was ready to debate the point.

“From the time we entered fourth form, we knew that he would become a lawyer, something that he said he wanted to be. Although he did not excel at sport, he understood well the importance of the 12th man in the stands and was a part of that great cheerleading team at KC.

“But as youngsters in high school in 1972 when Michael Manley came into power, and with it his message of better must come, along with the thrust toward national pride, just about all of us got caught up in the wave. We considered that being at KC and thus having the benefit of access to a superior education, we had a responsibility vis-à-vis the country and its development, and an appreciation that things don’t have to remain the same.

“The wealth of this country could be more equitably distributed. At school, it was also a period when some of us were caught up in the black power movement, a time when we read a lot and there was that hunger for knowledge and keen interest for what was happening in and out of Jamaica,” Dallas recalled.

Mullings started his trek into elections at high school. He served as deputy head boy of KC for the academic year 1975 to 1976, having lost an election for the top schoolboy post to Cedric Lazarus, who later became the Hungarian-trained and acclaimed veterinary surgeon, formerly of the Ministry of Agriculture, now serving with the Food and Agriculture Organisation and based in Barbados. Dallas was Mullings’ campaign director.

“It was difficult to be at KC in my time and not become caught up in the Michael Manley message of self-reliance, nation building, the importance of sovereignty, having a say in the ownership of this ‘Rock’, etc, etc,” said Dallas. “That’s why the early alignment would be with the PNP. The message coming from Michael Manley was very powerful and appealing, Manley was our hero, and Manley and his message then were seen as the embodiment of PNP philosophy.”

Maurice Weir, who sat with Mullings in classes at John Mills Primary and later KC, said his friend had suffered a setback, but should be able to rebound.

“Throughout the years he had always been very forthright,” Weir reflected. “He is a genuine person, though just not the best of mixers. After all that has gone on, for the future he needs to look into himself and take corrective action into what got him into this situation.”

While Dallas and Lazarus left for Hungary to take up scholarships in chemical engineering and veterinary medicine respectively, Mullings entered the Faculty of Law at Cave Hill, University of the West Indies. Having completed studies at the Norman Manley Law School in Kingston, he got excited by the prospects of establishing a law firm in Montego Bay, as Kingston was by then saturated with lawyers.

Still intoxicated by the Manley philosophy, Mullings joined the PNP, but became disillusioned with that party’s policies and in 1998 switched membership to the JLP.

His big jump into elective politics bore fruit in 2002 when he defeated former Montego Bay Mayor Hugh Solomon to win the West Central St James seat.

Mullings defended that victory four years later against PNP heavyweight Francis Tulloch, who had been wooed back from retirement to try to topple the rising star of the west.

Having earned his stripes, Mullings was named mining and energy minister in the Golding administration in September 2007 and scored many successes, including the introduction of sugar cane-based fuel ethanol for use in motor vehicles and factories.

It was Mullings who led the move for disgraced MP Kern Spencer to be hauled before the court in relation to a Cuban light bulb fraud investigation.

“I used to have several discussions with him before he became a minister and it was interesting how this lawyer was able to quickly grasp ideas that had to do with telecommunications, mining and energy. He was always willing to learn,” Dallas said.

“As a minister, Clive always emphasised the importance of intellect. He didn’t mind contending ideas and views. He didn’t have a problem if you had a view that was different from his. What he always insisted on was that you explain and prove why your view made sense. He would always highlight the importance of rigour over the glib.

“Clive recognised that the solution to Jamaica’s energy problem was always going to be a complex one, that would involve dealing with current exigencies while charting a course for the future. He also understood that this was a problem that we had to face and ensure that we find the solution. He recognised that the solution of our energy problems had a knock-on effect in solving or ameliorating many other economic and social problems in the country,” Dallas said.

Asked if this is the end of the political road for Mullings, Dallas said: “No, I shouldn’t think so. I believe that he is somebody who appreciates his school motto, ‘The Brave May Fall But Never Yield.’ I don’t think that he will yield. He will see this as a particular milestone or juncture in his career. He certainly has much to contribute to Jamaica’s development. I don’t see him just crawling away. He will learn from this latest setback, look where he might have put a wrong foot, where he might not have come up to certain people’s expectations, and then using this knowledge and working harder and more determined, he will put things together. In any case, Clive Mullings still has much to contribute to Jamaica’s development. I expect that his time will come again.”