MANDEVILLE, Manchester — The failure on two occasions of a mobile electricity generator at remote Roxborough was a source of embarrassment and annoyance during the July 4 celebration of the birth of national hero Norman Manley.

However, the failing generator provided an unexpected opportunity for the keynote speaker.

Former Prime Minister P J Patterson grabbed the chance to highlight Manley’s organisational strength and tendency to always have a contingency plan.

Norman Manley “always travelled with his own microphone in his own car and he always pulled up the car before the platform so there would be no power interruption… because he used a battery,” according to Patterson.

“I think, perhaps, he is signalling us in today’s function that we ought, in making our arrangements (to ensure) there should be no lack of attention in dealing with the details…,” added Patterson.

“Among the things I will always remember, is Norman Manley’s towering intellect, his passion for selfless service, his energy, which was boundless, and his enduring stamina,” said Patterson, who as a young People’s National Party (PNP) organiser learnt political practice at the feet of Manley.

Patterson also learnt “meticulous attention to detail in whatever activity…, that’s why I say if he (Manley) was in charge of planning this function what has happened (loss of electricity) could never take place”.

That meticulousness and attention to detail would colour Manley’s contribution as social activist; as a politician in building the PNP and as “architect” of modern Jamaica.

In-between humorous stories of their relationship, Patterson told the audience at Roxborough, Manley’s birthplace in south central Manchester — which is been renovated and developed as a permanent museum — that the national hero was convinced, at first, that social activism rather than politics was the way.

“Before he entered the political arena, Norman Manley, a Rhodes scholar and military hero… was a passionate social activist, who thought at first his advocacy of the poor and oppressed was best served through social work,” explained Patterson.

“He regarded community effort as a pillar for national development and hence Jamaica Welfare Ltd was established, and you see that edifice in Porus (Porus Community Centre), which was built by Norman Manley and opened in 1939,” said Patterson.

According to Patterson, it took Manley “some time to be convinced that his talents and leadership skills should be transferred from what nowadays is called NGOs and civil society… into the political arena”.

The change was influenced “to some extent” by the 1938 labour riots in Frome and on the Kingston waterfront, “all of which reflected” a movement across the Caribbean as people sought to rid themselves of the “legacies of slavery, the iniquities of plantation system and the yoke of colonial oppression”.

“Norman Manley had a dream; it was a dream for that time, when Jamaica would be in charge of its own affairs and be able to shape its own destiny, for a Jamaica when every Jamaican could be proud to be Jamaican, and where being Jamaican” would enable people to “cash in on the world stage,” Patterson said.

For Patterson, Manley was the first to “articulate what we now know as brand Jamaica”.

And, having recognised the value of political organisation, Manley proceeded to do so with vision and energy, Patterson suggested.

“There are many people who are content to criticise everything which politicians do or fail to do, but when challenged will tell you politics is dirty and they are not prepared to dirty their hands,” Patterson said.

“Norman Manley felt not only could no country proceed in the absence of political organisation, but it was his job to build a political movement that would help to clean up corruption and iniquity and injustice, in whatever areas of Jamaica it existed,” he said.

The former prime minister described Manley’s seven-and-a-half years as head of pre-independent Jamaica between 1955 and 1962 as a time of great achievement in the modernisation of the country.

The opening up of an educational scholarship system to enable Jamaicans of humble background to enter high school was of watershed importance.

“The most profound thing that was done was when he opened the doors of secondary schools, no longer confining entry to one student per parish but to 2,000 children all over the island of Jamaica.

“Some of you may feel 2,000 scholarships was no big thing. It is no big thing now. It was a very revolutionary thing in those times. What it did was to create a new professional class in Jamaica that would be able to serve Jamaica in every aspect of our national development,” said Patterson.

“He built the College of Arts, Science and Technology (Now UTech), he established the Scientific Research Council, he moved away from the concept of land settlements… to… meaningful activities in business and agriculture.

“He created the national youth corps, the Cobbla Camp. I still meet people, as I travel the world, who tell me they were among the first to attend the Cobbla Camp, later expanded to include Chestervale…,” said Patterson.

Patterson recalled that even in pre-independent Jamaica, Manley was able to assert himself in foreign policy, establishing principles such as Jamaica’s stance against apartheid South Africa that would earn the country worldwide and lasting respect.

Under Norman Manley’s leadership, Jamaica became the “the first colony at the same time as independent India, to ban the import and export of goods from (apartheid) South Africa. He created the platform from which no Jamaican leader from either side has been able to retreat,” he added.

Patterson credited Manley for “creating an efficient public service because whatever you may think, you cannot run this country successfully in the absence of competent public officers, to distinguish between being able to respond to political instructions and being able consistently to make sure that it is the national agenda which is being pursued”.

He credited Manley for his vision in infrastructure development such as the road to Negril, though he was severely criticised for building “a road into the swamp” of Westmoreland and Hanover.

“Go and look at Negril today and understand that it is the result of the foresight of Norman Washington Manley. The same thing applies to the National Stadium; he was building the National Stadium because of the importance he attached to sports as a tool of national development, and an arena for promoting our entertainment possibilities. Little did he know that it would be the place from which the flag was unfurled for the first time on Independence Day, the 6th of August, 1962,” said Patterson.

He hailed Manley for his “unambiguous commitment to democracy and the right of the people to decide and the obligation of a political leader to respect that decision”.

That aspect came strongly to the fore when the then opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) withdrew support from a regional federation. Manley decided first on a referendum on the issue, and subsequently an election — more than two years before it was due. Manley paid the price with defeat on both counts.

But “when that decision was given he didn’t halt in his stride. He took the necessary steps to chair the committee that would chart a constitution for a new and independent Jamaica,” said Patterson.

“That constitution has served to provide safeguards against abuse, the first constitution in the parliamentary system where the position of Leader of the Opposition was enshrined in the constitution,” said Patterson.

“Sometimes when you are prime minister, you wish it weren’t so but when you are in opposition, you are very happy and delighted that it is so…,” said Patterson to laughter and applause.

He urged Jamaicans to embrace the unifying aspect of Manley’s legacy.

“I think, as we approach a time of great difficulty in the life of our nation, we must be reminded of something Norman Manley always emphasised: that unity of purpose which transcends political partisan lines, to embrace the entire nation of Jamaica irrespective of the party, religion, or the group to which we belong,” Patterson said.