Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Pearnel Charles Sr has said that the two-thirds majority won by the Jamaica Labour Party in Thursday’s general election should ensure that the party fulfils most of the promises it has made to the country.

Charles Sr told the Jamaica Observer on Friday that the pressure of not having a two-thirds majority and a cooperative Opposition in making some fundamental changes to aid social and economic development have held back the Andrew Holness Administration over the past four-and-a-half years.

“I believe that the incoming administration, with a two-thirds majority, should have no excuses for not doing what they know needs to be done to improve the lives of Jamaicans, but requires a two-thirds majority in Parliament,” the 84-year-old parliamentarian originally from Macedonia, St Ann, told the Sunday Observer.

Turning to his admiration of current Prime Minister Andrew Holness, he said that with the greatest of respect for his other political bosses – Sir Alexander Bustamante, Hugh Shearer and Edward Seaga – Holness is the best prime minister the country has ever produced.

“I think that Andrew, who is a product of generational change as he is still under 50 years old, is going into his second term with a highest level of popularity the nation can give him, and is certainly the number one prime minister that this country has produced up to now,” he stated.

He said Holness has certain leadership qualities which he has noticed over the years, and he expects great things from him in the next five years.

“The conditions under which he was born and where he has reached, despite those conditions, assure us that he is certainly Jamaica’s number one prime minister. I expect more great things from him. I think that he has been handling the country’s problems excellently, and he has recruited good men and women to work with him. I expect that the 49 MPs, and the rest of us, because I am still ready and willing to work with him in any capacity, will ensure that the country keeps moving forward,” Charles Sr noted.

A veteran of Jamaican politics and the labour movement since the 1960s and a former cabinet minister and vice-president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), Charles Sr said that he is proud that two of his own children – attorney-at-law and former cabinet minister Pearnel Charles Jnr and dental surgeon Michelle Charles – will be among the 63 MPs to be sworn when the Parliament officially resumes this month.

He specially noted the victory of Dr Michelle Charles, who avenged his 1993 loss to former People’s National Party (PNP) cabinet minister Dr Fenton Ferguson in St Thomas Eastern, which forced him to seek a new constituency in Clarendon North Central.

“It was a massive swing against him [Ferguson]. I worked with her during the campaign, I assisted her. It resulted in a massive swing made possible by the younger generation’s determination to elect her as MP for the constituency,” he explained.

He also referred to the fact that he had decided not to contest his former Clarendon seat in last Thursday’s general election, in deference to the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) desire to run young Robert Nesta Morgan there, instead of Charles Jr, who was switched to Clarendon South East constituency, formerly represented by Rudyard Spencer, who presided over the BITU after the death of its President General Hugh Shearer.

The triangular movements led to Dr Charles winning in St Thomas Eastern and denying the outspoken Dr Ferguson the opportunity to become the “seven-star general” he aspired to being after winning the seat for a sixth time in 2016.

The result was that Charles’s daughter, after a limited candidature, beat Ferguson 6,126 votes to 5,392, the first time he was tasting defeat since dethroning the elder Charles.

In the meantime, Morgan easily defeated the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Dr Desmond Brennan scoring 5,726 to 3,934 to capture the Clarendon North Central seat, and Charles Jr handed Patricia Duncan Sutherland her second beating in the Clarendon South East seat winning 10,219 to her 7,275.

The result was that it gave Charles Sr the chance to return to his second love, which is farming, while his daughter represents his original seat in Parliament, St Thomas Eastern, and his son represents a seat normally represented by BITU affiliated politicians, including Shearer and Spencer.

Charles noted that both Michelle and Pearnel Jr were formerly American citizens. Michelle went to live with her mother, Gloria, a trained nurse, in the United States during his detention at Up Park Camp in the 1976 State of Emergency.

It was the most frightening time of the family’s life, with Charles Sr locked up at “Red Fence”, Up Park Camp, on allegations of encouraging political violence, and the family dreading constant police harassment.

One by one, the family, including the senior Charles, moved to the US where Charles Jr was born a year later. Michelle was able to study dental surgery at Howard University. They became US citizens like their siblings and pursued their education there. But, eventually, they revoked the US citizenship and returned home after the troublesome eighties to resume their lives in Jamaica.

Charles Sr spent a few months with his son in the House of Representatives earlier this year, while they awaited Holness’s decision on the calling of an election.

It was first time a father and son served in the House of Representatives together. On Thursday, September 3, 2020 the family set another parliamentary first as, for the first time, a brother and sister would serve in the House. However, this time Charles Sr will be at home, and at times on his farm in St Thomas.