FORMER PRIME MINISTER EDWARD SEAGA, WELCOMES RENAMING OF HIGHWAY IN HIS HONOR!

Despite objections by the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP), former Prime Minister Edward Seaga says that he deserves having the North-South Highway renamed in his honor, which Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced during the dedication ceremony of the Bustamante Museum in Kingston on Thursday.

Among PNP officers protesting the move are Vice-President Dr Angela Brown-Burke, spokesman for health Dr Dayton Campbell, and former Mayor of May Pen Scean Barnswell. According to both Campbell and Barnswell, the highway should be named in honor of former PNP Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller under whose administration the highway project commenced.

PNP-BACKED INTERNET PETITION

Edward Seaga

“With all due respect, the North-South Highway should be named Portia Simpson Miller Highway. Recognize the lady for her work,” Campbell argued.

That has been the stance of a PNP-backed petition circulating on the Internet. Furthermore, PNP supporters cite a 2002 Gleaner story in which Seaga, then leader of the opposition, said, “It was wrong for the Government to be concentrating on the multimillion-dollar project while several roads across the country were in disrepair.”

But Seaga has pushed back against his detractors.

“This highway is linked to two of the biggest projects that I have done being a minister and prime minister. One is building the Kingston Waterfront. The other is Ocho Rios, which I virtually recreated with the Turtle Beach, etc,” he told The Gleaner yesterday.

He further argued: “These people are absolutely ignorant. All along the way, I have been wanting to see something like (the highway connecting to the cities. Some grudgeful Comrades – that’s all they are,” quipped Jamaica’s fifth prime minister.

romario.scott@gleanerjm.com