KINGSTON, Jamaica – Member of Parliament for St Ann South East, Lisa Hanna says she gets goosebumps thinking about the contribution that Bob Marley has made to Jamaican music and his foray into the international market.

Hanna made the assertion in an interview with Observer Online on the red carpet of the premiere of the biopic Bob Marley: One Love, on Tuesday night at the Carib 5 in Cross Roads.

“What this night represents is just a global recognition of who this international global icon is. I couldn’t have missed it. I get goosebumps thinking of what Marley has done for Jamaica and it’s just awesome,” Hanna said.

She added, “Well as you know, I was the only Member of Parliament to move a motion in the house in 2022 for Bob Marley to be a national hero, and so I believe in that strongly. I believe that Marley through his lyrical activism, has really propelled the world for poor and disenfranchised people.”

Hanna, who was crowned Miss World in 1993, served as Minister of Youth and Culture from 2012–2016 under the administration of the People’s National Party (PNP).

Asked what her favourite Marley song was, Hanna was quick to point out Ride Natty Ride. The song is featured on Bob Marley and the Wailers’ 1979 album Survival, which has been certified platinum in Spain, gold in Canada and France, and silver in the United Kingdom.

“Ride Natty Ride is really a song about resilience. I mean when Bob sings ‘Dread he’s got a job to do and he’s got to fulfill that mission. To feel his hurt and to see his hurt will be their greatest ambition. But we will survive in this world of competition.’ And I think that’s just the song of the true Jamaican spirit, cause dem caan keep wi down. No time at all. And it’s just this fighting spirit that Jamaicans have and Marley helped to engender that on so many levels,” Hanna reasoned.