(Jamaica Observer) FORMER Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller marks her 75th birthday today, 14 years and nine months after creating history on being sworn in as Jamaica’s first female chief executive.
Simpson Miller, who retired in June 2017 after 43 years in representational politics, has largely been absent from public events since then, but her popularity, especially among the masses, has not waned.
That public acclaim contributed heavily to her victory over three rivals — Drs Peter Phillips, Karl Blythe, and Omar Davies — in the People’s National Party (PNP) presidential election held February 25, 2006 to replace PJ Patterson, who had decided to retire.
It was often said that ordinary Jamaicans saw themselves in Simpson Miller, given that she was not to the manor born, and her long, dedicated service to the country endeared her to people of all stripes.
Indeed, in her first address to the nation on taking the oath of office on March 20, 2006 at King’s House, Portia, or Sister P as she is often called, after recognising God as the source of her strength, said: “Today is a truly historic day in the life of this nation. A girl from Wood Hall in deep rural St Catherine has become prime minister of Jamaica, a true manifestation of the Jamaican dream. This indicates that any child, regardless of circumstances, can rise to the top.”
Born on December 12, 1945, Simpson Miller first served as a councillor in the Kingston & St Andrew Corporation in 1974. Two years later she was elected Member of Parliament for St Andrew South Western, polling a record 13,584 votes to demolish the Jamaica Labour Party’s Joe McPherson who received 4,376 votes.
The victory marked the first win for the PNP in that seat since 1959.
Simpson Miller’s first call to higher national service came in 1976 when her political mentor, then Prime Minister Michael Manley, appointed her parliamentary secretary for local government in the Office of the Prime Minister.
Throughout her political journey she served as PNP Women’s Movement president and has held full ministerial responsibility for labour, welfare, and sport, first in 1989; followed by tourism and sport; local government, community development and sport; before becoming prime minister in 2006, retaining the sport portfolio and maintaining the tradition of chief executives being responsible for defence.
Simpson Miller lost her first election as PNP president in 2007, but led her party to victory in the December 2011 General Election, giving her a second tenure as prime minister.
On June 27, 2017, when she made her final address to Parliament, Simpson Miller urged legislators to do what is in the best interest of the Jamaican people.
“This Parliament is the bedrock of our stable democracy and our free society. It must celebrate the best of Jamaica. It must project what makes us a great people,” she told the special joint sitting of the Parliament.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness, in his tribute, said Simpson Miller had a “truly phenomenal career”.
He noted that Simpson Miller was not only the seventh woman to be elected to the House of Representatives, but was Jamaica’s first, and only, female prime minister.
“This was no ordinary feat, and you are no ordinary woman,” the prime minister said.
He added that the defence of the poor in the society must never be left unattended, as Simpson Miller had been the voice that kept successive governments focused on policies and programmes beneficial to poor Jamaicans.
“I have studied you in that regard. I have observed how you have operated, and I am saying to you on your retirement that you don’t have to worry, there is a new defender of the poor people of Jamaica,” Holness said.
Simpson Miller’s successor as PNP president, Dr Phillips, said her presence in Parliament embodied all that was good about Jamaica, while others focused on what is wrong with Jamaica.
“We, the members of this honourable House and Senate, have a responsibility to place on record our appreciation of her outstanding contribution so that future generations may become aware of her tremendous contribution to the building of the nation,” he said.
The Jamaica Observer wishes Mrs Simpson Miller a happy birthday.
