Yearbook 2006
Jamaica. After Percival Patterson - Jamaica's prime
minister for 14 years - announced his resignation, his
ruling party, PNP (National People's Party), in February
elected the popular Portia Simpson Miller as new party
leader - and thus automatically also new prime minister. She
took up both positions at the end of March/April and
became Jamaica's first female head of government. Simpson
Miller then formed a government consisting of 14 people. She
took care of the defense, sport and gender issues herself.
According to
CountryAAH, Simpson Miller, at the age of 60, had made a quick career
from local politicians in Kingston's poorest neighborhood,
where she grew up, to top politicians, with 30 years of
experience as a member of parliament and with several
ministerial posts on the track record. Simpson Miller has a
strong support among Jamaica's many poor people who usually
call her "Last P" or in short "Mama". Within the PNP,
however, she faced opposition from a faction who considered
that her simple background from Kingston's slum was the
government's fault. They also said that she had failed to
achieve any improvements as local politicians in the poor
neighborhood. "Last P" herself considered that she has
become a symbol of new hope among the poor: "I am now on top
and want to take the rest of Jamaica with me"... "For years
I have been the face of the faceless and the voiceless in
the corridors of power",
Jamaicans love for Bob Marley seems eternal. In August,
the country's national bank minted a thousand gold and
silver coins with the portrait of the reggae legend. The
coins, which were sold for 100 Jamaica dollars each, would
have been out of trade in 2005 - until the 60th anniversary
of the deceased Marley's birth - but were delayed.
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