Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it. — Henry Ford

Last week Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga received the inaugural Consular Corps of Jamaica Global Achievement Award in recognition of his contribution to national development. Only the extremely mean-spirited would argue that he is not deserving.

Seaga, by dint of what the late abolitionist Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton called “invincible determination”, has earned an indelible place in Jamaica’s social and political history in spite of his detractors whose arsenal included the unadulterated use of racial epithets, clandestine manoeuvres, coordinated media demonisation, economic schism, and political subterfuge.

Of course, Seaga is not perfect. We all have foibles.

The late British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill famously, or infamously, said: “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” Some have argued rightly or wrongly that Seaga failed too often to heed Churchill’s advice.

It is not an exaggeration to say that no other Jamaican political figure has been so misunderstood and mischaracterised as Edward Seaga. But like ‘Old Man River’, Seaga keeps rolling along to the chagrin of some and the delight of those who know that real greatness is not a matter of ascription but more so description.

“Mr Seaga’s political career began in 1959 when Sir Alexander Bustamante, founder of the Jamaica Labour Party [JLP], nominated him to serve in the Upper House of the Jamaican Parliament, the Legislative Council [later the Senate]. His appointment at 29 made him the youngest member ever appointed to the Legislative Council.” (Profile of Edward Seaga, p 1)

I have said on radio many times that Michael Manley — though he was an economic disaster — and Edward Seaga genuinely loved the Jamaican people. Manley’s economic failures were largely due to his bad decisions, but the oversupply of low-voltage thinkers who surrounded him did not help. I will take on that matter in future articles.

Manley and Seaga’s love for ordinary Jamaicans was not ever limited to the mere utterance of a four-letter word. Both created and implemented policies, projects and programmes that facilitated the process of what Rex Nettleford, late vice chancellor of The University of the West Indies, called “smadditisation”.

Manley’s love was his collective, necessary and cathartic social reforms of the 1970s, while Seaga’s was his visionary institutional building. Seaga understood that the fundamental difference between nations that were strong and those which remained weak was the credibility and quality of institutions which served the needs and developed the potential of people.

I believe Manley, Shearer and Seaga read Khalil Gibran’s seminal poem, Pity the Nation.

Seaga, in my estimation, however, by virtue of his achievements, had the most comprehensive understanding of the entire meaning and application of Gibran’s poem vis-a-vis the unique cultural context of Jamaica. Maybe his solid grasp had some relationship to his undergraduate scholarship in cultural anthropology.

Gibran’s poem reads:

Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.

Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave

and eats a bread it does not harvest.

Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero,and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.Pity a nation that despises a passion in its dream,yet submits in its awakening.Pity the nation that raises not its voicesave when it walks in a funeral;boasts not except among its ruins;and will rebel not save when its neck is laidbetween the sword and the block.Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox,whose philosopher is a juggler,and whose art is the art of patching and mimickingPity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,and farewells him with hooting,only to welcome another with trumpeting again.Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with yearsand whose strongmen are yet in the cradle.Pity the nation divided into fragments,each fragment deeming itself a nation.

Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero,

and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.

Pity a nation that despises a passion in its dream,

yet submits in its awakening.

Pity the nation that raises not its voice

save when it walks in a funeral;

boasts not except among its ruins;

and will rebel not save when its neck is laid

between the sword and the block.

Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox,

whose philosopher is a juggler,

and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking

Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,

and farewells him with hooting,

only to welcome another with trumpeting again.

Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years

and whose strongmen are yet in the cradle.

Pity the nation divided into fragments,

each fragment deeming itself a nation.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith noted, inter alia, at last week’s Global Achievement Awards function: “It is indisputable that Edward Seaga has been the principal engineer and developer of independent Jamaica. His programmes and vision for Jamaica are written in an extensive range of projects and institutions which spans the entire field of national development.”

I agree.

Seaga’s famous “haves and have-nots” speech in 1961 announced that he was a man on a mission to change Jamaica for the better. He then went to work to build institutions that would benefit the multi-developmental needs of ordinary Jamaicans for generations.

The late Lee Kuan Yew famously said, “A true leader thinks what his country can become 100 years in the future and set in motion structures to achieve his vision.” Seaga is Jamaica’s Lee Kuan Yew.

What were some of his achievements? Let’s start with financial institution building, the lifeblood of any economy: Jamaica Stock Exchange (1968), Jamaica Development Bank (1969), decimalisation of the Jamaican currency (1969), introduction of merchant banking in Jamaica (1969), Jamaica Mortgage Bank (1972), National Development Bank (1981), Agricultural Credit Bank (1981), National Investment Bank of Jamaica and Export-Import Bank (1986), JAMPRO [formerly Jamaica National Investment Promotion Limited] (1987), Digiport [first satellite telecommunications data processing operations], and the Self Start Fund (1984).

Seaga and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) built the National Arena in 1963; Things Jamaican in 1963; Student Revolving Loan Fund for Higher Education (1970); established Jamaica Racing Commission and Jockey School (1972); Golden Age Homes for the elderly poor; Programme for Advancement of Early Childhood Education; residential halls for The University of the West Indies, University of Technology, Jamaica; HEART (now HEART/National Training Agency) in 1982; establishment of the Office of the Contractor General (proposed in 1979) in 1983.

His contributions to legislation not timetabled and dictated by the International Monetary Fund that have improved life for thousands upon thousands of ordinary Jamaicans are a matter of public record. On the matter of legislation, Seaga should be forever credited for his unrivalled magnanimity when, after the 1983 general election (selection since it was uncontested by an unprepared PNP), he did not use the Government’s total control of the Senate and the House of Representatives for raw political advantage. Seaga could have changed the constitution of the country to the eternal advantage of the JLP. He did not. Instead, he appointed independent senators and demonstrated statesmanship. Compare Seaga’s actions with the behaviour of Manley and his clandestine use of his constitutional powers to declare a year-long state of emergency in 1976.

As a builder and facilitator of cultural institutions Seaga is matched by few: Jamaica Festival (1963), return of Marcus Garvey’s remains to Jamaica (1964), several museums inclusive of the Arawak and Port Royal (1965-1969), introducing National Heritage Week (1968), Creative Production and Training Centre (1971), and the Media Divestment Programme to establish several small private radio and church television stations.

Like Lee Kuan Yew, Seaga looked at Jamaica and saw its great potential, especially if a systematic process of urban and rural development of physical and social resources were done. In 1996 he spearheaded the redevelopment of the Kingston waterfront; 1967, reclamation and development of the Ocho Rios waterfront; creation of the Urban Development Corporation in 1968, National Committee for Drug Abuse, 1983; Metropolitan Parks and Markets (now National Solid Waste Management Authority); redevelopment of Bloody Bay in Negril; and a comprehensive redevelopment of many rural towns.

Seaga’s genius has benefited Jamaicans in ways yet to be fully understood. World-renowned psephologist and academician, the late Professor Carl Stone of The University of the West Indies, Mona, said: “Seaga’s dominance of the JLP is generally misunderstood. He is a difficult man to get along with, and he is very demanding. In a low-intensity work culture, in which most people operate at 30 per cent of their capacity, Seaga puts out 100 per cent, which is the main reason why he is disliked by many of his colleagues.

“He believes in tight party discipline and a strong chain of command that runs the party more like a military structure than a democratic organ. He has sacrificed democracy for organisational discipline. He gets away with it because he is better able to get things done than any other politician in the country.

“We may not like him, but we are forced to acknowledge that his methods work in a country wracked by indiscipline, irresponsible behaviour and laziness.

“Seaga’s dominance of the JLP is not jus

t a reflection of his personality or leadership style. Seaga has revolutionised the JLP from being a ‘rag tag’, populist party with no clear ideological direction into an ‘ideas party’ that challenged PNP [People’s National Party] socialism in the 70s with a strong liberal-capitalist ideological and intellectual offensive. Under Bustamante, the JLP was no intellectual match for the ideas party that the PNP was under Norman Manley. The ideas that drive the current JLP are the thoughts of Edward Seaga, and this gives him a level of intellectual dominance in the current JLP that has no parallel in the PNP or the earlier JLP.

“Seaga single-handedly won the ideological battle with Michael Manley and the PNP to the point where Manley and the PNP are now echoing and articulating Seaga’s liberal-capitalist ideology. Any objective analysis of politics in this country over the last two decades has to acknowledge that Seaga, not Manley, has been the political personality who has had the most decisive influence on our country’s policy and ideological direction.” (

The Gleaner, October 22, 1990)

It is a matter of public record that it was Seaga who started the Food Aid Programme locally in 1983. Under the programme, schoolchildren received a high-protein lunch daily; and food stamps were provided to assist some of the dietary needs of the indigent as well as those of pregnant and nursing mothers.

“It was Seaga who launched the concept of the Golden Age Home locally in the 1960s. A prototype home was built in 1985, a second was constructed in an inner-city community in 1988.” (Profile of Edward Seaga, p 5)

“It was Seaga who transformed the country’s worst slum, Back-o-wall, into a modern, low- income residential community, renamed Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli Gardens had a full range of cultural and social amenities for all groups and successful urban community development. The development pioneered the use of high-rise buildings as a solution to re-housing the densely populated inner slums which succeeded in changing the face of the West Kingston area by not taking a man out of the slum but the slum out of the man.” (Profile of Edward Seaga, p 5)

The numerous local, regional and international awards that Eddie Seaga has received attest to the longevity and profound impact of his work and worth.

The former prime minister’s work is recognised locally and internationally, which has seen him receiving a number of prestigious awards. These include: the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Humanitarian Award in 1984; the Pan American Development Foundation Inter-American Man of the Year Development Award in 1983; and the Gleaner Honour Awards: Man of the Year for 1980 and 1981. Seaga was also conferred with several honorary degrees by the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech), and the University of Miami, and Boston University in the United States, among others.

As regards achievement, Edward Seaga has given the most to Jamaica thus far.

The best way out of a difficulty is through it. — Will Rogers

Garfield Higgins is an educator; journalist; and advisor to the minister of education, youth and information. Send comments to the Observer or higgins160@yahoo.com.