Jamaica's Prime Minister Bruce Golding

Bruce Golding was only 2 years old in 1949 when his father was first elected as a Member of the House of Representatives for West St Catherine.

It was a seat that he retained for 22 years until his retirement in 1972.

The elder Golding was also the first Speaker of the House in independent Jamaica and served as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Housing.

Keen

From a very early age, the younger Golding showed a keen interest in politics.

He was very close to his father and started traveling with him to political meetings during the 1961 referendum campaign when he was just 12 years old.

By the general elections of 1962, he had taken on responsibility for setting up and operating the public address system at public meetings.

While a student at St George's College, he would often go down to parliament after school to listen to the debates: an early exposure to the techniques he would come to master with blistering effect on the campaign trail.

1967 campaign

Bruce Golding was pursuing his studies at the University of the West Indies when the 1967 elections were announced.

The government had made substantial changes to the boundaries of his father's constituency removing several of his strongholds to create a new constituency.

While at university, Golding started getting reports that his father was likely to lose his seat.

He suspended his studies in order to take charge of the campaign.

This proved to be a critical factor in enabling the Jamaica Labour Party to win that seat by 878 votes - a far cry from his father's usual majority of over 3,000 and a decisive victory given the boundary changes that had taken place.

Another early exposure: this time to campaign management.

Golding was by now firmly committed to political service. In 1968 he was elected Vice Chairman of the JLP Constituency Executive for West St Catherine.

Edward Seaga, then Minister of Finance and Planning, recognized his ability and appointed him as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Lotteries Commission while he was still a university student.

Early success…and defeat

In 1969, less than three weeks after completing his final exams at the UWI, Bruce Golding was selected as the candidate for West St Catherine at a special conference of the JLP in that constituency.

That same year he was elected to the Central Executive of the JLP . Bruce Golding was then only 21 years old.

The following year he was one of the founders of Young Jamaica, the youth arm of the JLP.

Then came the 1972 elections: Golding won the seat by a majority of 893, becoming at 24 the youngest person ever elected to the Jamaican parliament - a record that still stands.

	Golding was the youngest person ever elected to the Jamaica parliament

In 1974 shortly after Edward Seaga assumed the leadership of the JLP Golding was elected General Secretary.
1976 brought another political experience. Golding was defeated in his West St Catherine.

The following year he decided to withdraw from representational politics in order to concentrate on his task as General Secretary of the JLP and was appointed to the Senate.

He was a key figure in coordinating the JLP's organization and campaign for the 1980 elections in which the party was returned to power securing 51 seats to 9 for the PNP.

Following the 1980 elections Golding was reappointed to the Senate and at 32 years of age was appointed Minister of Construction in the new JLP government.

In the 1983 elections Golding returned to representational politics when he was elected Member of Parliament for what was then South Central St. Catherine (later reconfigured as Central St. Catherine).

He was subsequently re-elected in 1989 and 1993 increasing his majority on each occasion.

Bruce Golding also got his taste of what it was like to be at the helm of government, when he acted a prime minister on a number of occasions.

In 1984, his upward spiral continued when he was elected Chairman of the JLP.

When the party lost the 1989 elections, Golding retained his seat and was named Shadow Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.

Doing his own thing…

By the early 1990s Golding said he had become concerned that political tribalism had polarized the society.

He embarked on a crusade both within the JLP and publicly for fundamental constitutional changes and major reform of Jamaica’s political culture and practices.

But could he do that while in the JLP?

The logical answer is perhaps not, because he then announced his intention to form a new political party with "high ideals: new and different, inclusive not exclusionary".

The National Democratic Movement came into being with Bruce Golding as its first President.

He had his own party and could chart his own course.

Although there was strong support for the ideas espoused by the NDM it lacked the organizational strength to translate this into electoral support.

In 2001 the NDM again fared badly in a by-election and shortly after, Golding announced his resignation as its president.

He then stepped further back, withdrawing from political activity.

But even while in the NDP flagged in the opinion polls, a JLP re-union, came out well, regularly pointing to Golding as a possible leader of the party.

Back to basics

In September 2002 shortly after the announcement of new elections and after intensive behind-the-scene negotiations, Golding rejoined the JLP, just three weeks before election day.

He was back in the thick of things: Golding was appointed to the Senate and named Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade; he was elected unopposed as Chairman of the party; elected unopposed as Leader of the JLP in February 2005 following the retirement of Edward Seaga.

	After a brief hiatus Bruce Golding returned to the JLP in 2005

In April 2005, Bruce Golding was back in the Jamaica Parliament as an MP for the JLP and Leader of the Opposition.

September 2007, after a heated – and hurricane-interrupted election campaign – Bruce Golding has reached the pinnacle of politics in Jamaica: Prime Minister.

On his plate are numerous issues that constantly make the headlines in Jamaica, and about Jamaica: debt, unemployment, crime, education, relations with the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

All these in a country whose ‘brand Jamaica’ is internationally recognizable; reggae, athletics, tourism and that ubiquitous flag.

All of these will equally, forcefully, and constantly demand all Bruce Golding’s training as an economist, political acumen, and business astuteness – perhaps also even his skills as a baker.

There’s hardly time for a honeymoon.