Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Thursday recalled the late former Prime Minister Hugh Lawson Shearer as a dignified and unifying personality on Jamaica’s political scene.

“I don’t think anyone could have challenged that statement. All the reports suggest that Hugh Lawson Shearer represented the highest example of grace, humility, charm, dignity, respect and caring for others,” Holness told the audience at the National Heroes’ Park where a floral tribute was held to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the former prime minister who also served as the president general of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU).

Holness pointed out that among the main achievements of Shearer was the fact that between 1967 and 1972, his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Administration was responsible for building some 50 schools.

He also noted Shearer’s challenge that, “We cannot allow the future of our country to happen by accident”. And his warning to, “Build Jamaica first, or we will stop where we are and begin to quickly reverse into the mirror of our distant future”.

Holness noted that Shearer resisted depending on natural material, such as bauxite, for export and instead insisted that Jamaica’s greatest resource was its people.