By his own account, national hero Sir William Alexander Bustamante was born on February 24, 1884, which would be 127 years ago today. He died on August 6, 1977 at the age of 93. This national hero who was Jamaica’s first prime minister in political independence was decorated with British, Jamaican and other honours, and is arguably the most decorated Jamaican in history.

Two days ago, Mark Myrie who goes by the stage name “Buju Banton” was found guilty in Florida, USA, of dealing in cocaine. Is he really guilty or has he been framed? I do not know, but in any case it is another sad episode in the life of a popular entertainer. In the now defunct Jamaica Herald, on November 2 1992, some 18 years, three months and three weeks ago, my column was entitled, “From Busta to Buju”. At the time, it was in the news that Buju Banton’s song Boom bye-bye was causing a furore in the powerful gay communities in North America and Europe. It all happened when someone translated the lyrics into the sort of English that would be understood in North America.

The parallel that I drew was with respect to the West Indies Federation that had started in 1958 and from which Jamaica withdrew after a referendum in 1961. As George Eaton wrote in his book Alexander Bustamante and Modern Jamaica (page 172) , Bustamante found out that his popularity in Jamaica was not exportable. Likewise with Buju Banton. I tried to warn Buju, then 19 years old, to learn from the mistakes that Bustamante made as an elderly man. I spoke similarly in a radio commentary on IRIE FM.

It is sad that Buju Banton, despite his growth in the music industry, didn’t seem to have learnt from that experience half of his life ago. Winning a Grammy Award means nothing to the Americans if either they think you are guilty of a crime or decide to take revenge for “dissing” the powerful American gay organisations. I believe that Bob Marley and Peter Tosh understood this because they never sang such songs. Bustamante being the most decorated national hero in Jamaica, which included foreign honours, meant nothing in the Caribbean and worldwide.

Alexander Clarke-Bustamante was an avid letter writer to both the Daily Gleaner and the Jamaica Standard newspapers in the mid-1930s. Someone then asked in a letter to the Jamaica Standard who was this Alexander Clarke-Bustamante. This was when Bustamante told the tale of being adopted by a Spanish captain in Spain. His cousins Norman Manley, Edna Manley, Michael Manley and Rachel Manley refuted that. So did George Eaton. Bustamante did not cross the Atlantic before 1950. He changed his name from Clarke to Bustamante in time for the first elections under Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944.

Bustamante’s main contribution to the growth of Jamaica was in leading the struggle for the rights of the most downtrodden workers in Jamaica. The Bustamante Industrial Trade Union was the first in Jamaica to encompass all categories of workers. It was founded from the ferment in 1938 that brought about the political movement for self-government and Independence. In 1943 Bustamante founded the Jamaica Labour Party.

The JLP won by a landslide the first election under Universal Adult Suffrage in 1944 and PNP President Norman Manley did not win a seat. In 1949 the JLP won again but received fewer votes than the PNP. The JLP lost to the PNP in 1955 and again in 1959. In 1958 the Federation of the West Indies began and by 1959 Bustamante campaigned against it. Jamaica voted to secede in a referendum held in 1961.

In the April 10, 1962 general election, the JLP won and Bustamante became Jamaica’s second premier. On August 6, 1962, he became Jamaica’s first prime minister. He was ill for the last three years in office but did not seek re-election in 1967. Donald Sangster succeeded Bustamante. He died 48 days later and was succeeded by Hugh Shearer. Then came Michael Manley, Edward Seaga, Michael Manley again, PJ Patterson, Portia Simpson Miller, then Bruce Golding.

Was Bustamante ever a Roman Catholic? Did he say that to corroborate the Spanish captain adoption tale because Spain is 99 per cent Roman Catholic? Bustamante was told that for a Roman Catholic wedding, at least one of the marriage partners had to be Roman Catholic. He immediately advised his fiancée Gladys Longbridge to take instructions to become Roman Catholic, which would not have been necessary had he been Roman Catholic.

Kevin O’Brien Chang said he was in a recent publication, and many others have been misled into believing Bustamante was Roman Catholic. I made that mistake in the same 1992 article mentioned earlier. Even the local Roman Catholic Church thought so. When Bustamante died in 1977, a Requiem Mass was celebrated by the late Archbishop Samuel Carter.

Let us pray for Buju that he does not go to prison but is deported to Jamaica. He can continue his singing career without returning to the USA.

ekrubm765@yahoo.com