Tweet
Randle remembers Joseph Hibbert
Published: Wednesday | June 26, 2013
Hibbert
Below is a tribute to former parliamentarian Joseph Hibbert written by Publisher Ian Randle. Hibbert died of a heart attack recently.
JOE HIBBERT and I were contemporaries at Excelsior in the 1960s. But we were much more than that; we were classmates for five of those years and firm friends among a small but very close group of boys and remained so until his untimely death recently.
At Excelsior, 'Jomo', as he was known among us, was a math and science 'brain' and was arguably one of, if not the brightest, in the cohort that left school in 1967. Joe went on to study for a degree in civil engineering at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St Augustine, Trinidad, where he could number among his contemporaries Richard Powell, the current president of Victoria Mutual Building Society, and Clement Sankat, the current principal of the St Augustine campus of the UWI.
Joe later went on to read for a master's degree at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, returning to Jamaica to continue his career in the public service, where he rose to the position of chief technical director in the Ministry of Works serving under ministers from both sides of the political divide.
He remained a loyal and dedicated public servant until his departure from the ministry to enter representational politics. As with most boyhood friendships, we were not as close in later years as we pursued differing paths towards further education and the building of family and career, but there was a period in the late '70s when we spent many hours in each other's company every week playing cards. That bond of friendship was never broken, although we saw each other less frequently, but on the occasions on which we met, it was always as if our last meeting had been weeks or mere days before.
Looking back, Joseph Hibbert seemed the most unlikely person to have entered representational politics. I have some knowledge of the reasons why he was induced to take what seemed a most unlikely career step, and we all had our doubts about the wisdom of his decision. However, the record shows he was a two-term member of parliament for the East Rural St Andrew constituency, which included his own village of Bito, which he never really left in all his years growing up and in his working and political life, and he lost no opportunity to go back there whenever he had the time.
It is this quality of remaining close to his roots, coupled with an unquestioning loyalty to those who were really important in his life, that makes Hibbert's entry into representational politics and his relative success not such an unlikely career choice. Even as a junior minister, Joe's lifestyle never really changed.
Not for him the cocktail circuit or the hob-nobbing at social events, so he was never part of that inner circle of parliamentarians who blended as one socially outside the cut and thrust of party politics. He was more often to be found at Seven Miles, Bull Bay, or in Bito among the people who really mattered.
I am, therefore, not surprised that in the recent 'tribute' to him in Parliament, no member from the Government side rose to speak on his behalf because they did not really know him. I would like to think that their inaction was not an act of disrespect, but that in the absence of having nothing good to say about Hibbert, they chose to say nothing.
I have many friends in the construction industry, and more particularly, friends involved in road construction and rehabilitation, who, long before the unfortunate Mabey and Johnson allegations, often spoke of Hibbert's uncompromising insistence on adherence to the rules and performance to contract specifications and who would brook no cutting of corners even among contractors with whom he shared the occasional social drink.
This is the Joe Hibbert I knew, and people don't change in their essential character. Generosity, loyalty, integrity and, above all, an unquenchable love for life are the qualities for which I remember Joseph, Jomo, Hibbie, Jo, Hibbert best. History will absolve him.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...ws/news92.html
Published: Wednesday | June 26, 2013
Hibbert
Below is a tribute to former parliamentarian Joseph Hibbert written by Publisher Ian Randle. Hibbert died of a heart attack recently.
JOE HIBBERT and I were contemporaries at Excelsior in the 1960s. But we were much more than that; we were classmates for five of those years and firm friends among a small but very close group of boys and remained so until his untimely death recently.
At Excelsior, 'Jomo', as he was known among us, was a math and science 'brain' and was arguably one of, if not the brightest, in the cohort that left school in 1967. Joe went on to study for a degree in civil engineering at the University of the West Indies (UWI) St Augustine, Trinidad, where he could number among his contemporaries Richard Powell, the current president of Victoria Mutual Building Society, and Clement Sankat, the current principal of the St Augustine campus of the UWI.
Joe later went on to read for a master's degree at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, returning to Jamaica to continue his career in the public service, where he rose to the position of chief technical director in the Ministry of Works serving under ministers from both sides of the political divide.
He remained a loyal and dedicated public servant until his departure from the ministry to enter representational politics. As with most boyhood friendships, we were not as close in later years as we pursued differing paths towards further education and the building of family and career, but there was a period in the late '70s when we spent many hours in each other's company every week playing cards. That bond of friendship was never broken, although we saw each other less frequently, but on the occasions on which we met, it was always as if our last meeting had been weeks or mere days before.
Looking back, Joseph Hibbert seemed the most unlikely person to have entered representational politics. I have some knowledge of the reasons why he was induced to take what seemed a most unlikely career step, and we all had our doubts about the wisdom of his decision. However, the record shows he was a two-term member of parliament for the East Rural St Andrew constituency, which included his own village of Bito, which he never really left in all his years growing up and in his working and political life, and he lost no opportunity to go back there whenever he had the time.
It is this quality of remaining close to his roots, coupled with an unquestioning loyalty to those who were really important in his life, that makes Hibbert's entry into representational politics and his relative success not such an unlikely career choice. Even as a junior minister, Joe's lifestyle never really changed.
Not for him the cocktail circuit or the hob-nobbing at social events, so he was never part of that inner circle of parliamentarians who blended as one socially outside the cut and thrust of party politics. He was more often to be found at Seven Miles, Bull Bay, or in Bito among the people who really mattered.
I am, therefore, not surprised that in the recent 'tribute' to him in Parliament, no member from the Government side rose to speak on his behalf because they did not really know him. I would like to think that their inaction was not an act of disrespect, but that in the absence of having nothing good to say about Hibbert, they chose to say nothing.
I have many friends in the construction industry, and more particularly, friends involved in road construction and rehabilitation, who, long before the unfortunate Mabey and Johnson allegations, often spoke of Hibbert's uncompromising insistence on adherence to the rules and performance to contract specifications and who would brook no cutting of corners even among contractors with whom he shared the occasional social drink.
This is the Joe Hibbert I knew, and people don't change in their essential character. Generosity, loyalty, integrity and, above all, an unquenchable love for life are the qualities for which I remember Joseph, Jomo, Hibbie, Jo, Hibbert best. History will absolve him.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...ws/news92.html