Remembering Michael Manley, on his 90th birthday

Wednesday, December 10, 2014, marked the 90^th birthday of Michael Manley, Jamaica’s fourth prime minister.

Mr. Manley, son of former Premier Norman Washington Manley, and the outstanding artist, Edna Manley, served three terms as prime minister: 1972-1976, 1976-1980, and 1989-1992.

He died on March 6, 1997 at the age of 72.

It was on February 29, 1972, that 47 year-old Michael Manley first led his People’s National Party to electoral victory in politically Independent Jamaica.

In his inaugural address two days later, he started by “thanking God for the opportunity that is afforded to my colleagues and I to be of service to the people of Jamaica,” and promised the Jamaican people that he and his colleagues in government would strive to justify the confidence that had been reposed in them.

He then made an appeal for national unity: “If there was one wish that were paramount in my mind at this time, it would be the wish that we could bury the past, that we could forget the bitternesses (sic)  that  are inevitably a part of the democratic process; that we could learn that democracy is a system of dialogue and debate, but that it does not need to lead to bitterness and hatred. I think that Jamaica has a unique opportunity, among the developing countries of the world, to show that a young country, beset by many problems, with much suffering, with enormous tasks to be performed, can perform those tasks within the spirit of the democratic system.”

Jamaica should also learn,; he declared, that “great accomplishments as a nation, rest always on a foundation of national unity.”

The new Prime Minister made what he called “two solemn pledges” to Jamaica: “My colleagues and I will seek always to be a government of truth… We will seek always to be a government of humility.”

It was his belief, he said, that “when people have to be asked to sacrifice, when people have to be asked to endure, that if those who claim to lead, walk humbly with the people, then the people will walk with those that lead with humility.”

You may click on the audio icon above for excerpts from that 1972 inaugural address.