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Portia defends performance of governments since Independence
Portia defends performance of governments since Independence[/font]
OPPOSITION leader Portia Simpson Miller has defended the performance of successive governments since Independence in 1962, stating that more has been achieved in Jamaica during that period than in the 100 years after Emancipation in 1838.
While admitting that governments, led by both major parties, have made mistakes, the former prime minister said many things that are taken for granted today were unattainable for the masses of the people 49 years ago.
She also expressed confidence that she will get the opportunity to lead further developments to the country as she will again become prime minister following the next general election due next year.
Simpson Miller on Wednesday evening delivered the last in a series of reflections by former prime ministers, organised by the University of the West Indies ahead of the 50th anniversary of Independence, which will be celebrated next year.
The other lectures were delivered by former prime ministers Edward Seaga and PJ Patterson, in the series organised by UWI's Sir Arthur Lewis Institute for Social and Economic Studies (SALISES).
"I am unique, in that I am the one who will have the opportunity to put my insight into use as prime minister," Simpson Miller said, to cheers from a large audience, including her People's National Party (PNP) executives and supporters at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.
While admitting that economic growth had been unsatisfactory since the second decade after Independence, Simpson Miller said Jamaica had made significant gains in tertiary education, health care, telecommunications, labour relations, air and seaport infrastructure, housing, culture and sport.
"The development of people cannot be measured by numbers alone. There was growth in the 1950s and '60s but the masses of the people were excluded," Simpson Miller said.
She recalled the 1970s as a period of social mobility and development of professions such as law, medicine and business, and equal rights for women and children born out of wedlock.
The PNP president called on UWI scholars to do more research on the period from 1838 when slavery was abolished in Jamaica, to 1938 when there was the labour uprising and the birth of the PNP. She said there was little progress for the people during this period compared to the years after Independence.
OPPOSITION leader Portia Simpson Miller has defended the performance of successive governments since Independence in 1962, stating that more has been achieved in Jamaica during that period than in the 100 years after Emancipation in 1838.
While admitting that governments, led by both major parties, have made mistakes, the former prime minister said many things that are taken for granted today were unattainable for the masses of the people 49 years ago.
She also expressed confidence that she will get the opportunity to lead further developments to the country as she will again become prime minister following the next general election due next year.
Simpson Miller on Wednesday evening delivered the last in a series of reflections by former prime ministers, organised by the University of the West Indies ahead of the 50th anniversary of Independence, which will be celebrated next year.
The other lectures were delivered by former prime ministers Edward Seaga and PJ Patterson, in the series organised by UWI's Sir Arthur Lewis Institute for Social and Economic Studies (SALISES).
"I am unique, in that I am the one who will have the opportunity to put my insight into use as prime minister," Simpson Miller said, to cheers from a large audience, including her People's National Party (PNP) executives and supporters at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.
While admitting that economic growth had been unsatisfactory since the second decade after Independence, Simpson Miller said Jamaica had made significant gains in tertiary education, health care, telecommunications, labour relations, air and seaport infrastructure, housing, culture and sport.
"The development of people cannot be measured by numbers alone. There was growth in the 1950s and '60s but the masses of the people were excluded," Simpson Miller said.
She recalled the 1970s as a period of social mobility and development of professions such as law, medicine and business, and equal rights for women and children born out of wedlock.
The PNP president called on UWI scholars to do more research on the period from 1838 when slavery was abolished in Jamaica, to 1938 when there was the labour uprising and the birth of the PNP. She said there was little progress for the people during this period compared to the years after Independence.
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