THE Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) said yesterday that the Government’s decision to rename the North/South road development the Edward Seaga Highway is unfortunate and is likely to be divisive.

In a statement yesterday, shadow minister for transport and works, Mikael Phillips, said it was not appropriate to name this particular monument after Seaga as it was not conceived by him and came well over a decade after he retired from public life.

“Indeed, the concept of a national highway system was opposed by Seaga as evidenced in a speech in February 2002, when he said, it was wrong for the Government to be concentrating on the multimillion -dollar Highway 2000 project while other roads were in disrepair,” Phillips said.

The Cabinet decision, Phillips said, is wrong and disrespectful of former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, “who conceived and worked diligently to ensure its financing and construction during the period of economic hardship”.

He added: “Prime Minister Simpson Miller saw the benefit it could play in opening-up the interior plains and valleys of the north/south corridor to facilitate national economic development.”

The PNP spokesman said the party was not against the naming of buildings and institutions which could worthily and appropriately be ascribed in Seaga’s honour as a former prime minister without any controversy or objection.

Phillips has asked Prime Minister Andrew Holness to return the matter to Cabinet for further consideration since this decision did not have the benefit of any kind of consultation with the Opposition or civil society.

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