Half the story has never been told…
Edward Seaga turned eighty this week. The man who served as Jamaica’s Prime Minster for 43 years was forced to postpone his 80th birthday celebration at Devon House—which reportedly was to have featured musical guests Mavado and Etana—because of the assault on Tivoli Gardens, the housing development and JLP stronghold that he erected. The first volume of his autobiography is subtitled A Clash of Ideologies, but the clash on the streets of Kingston is no debate club. When he spoke to the Jamaican press this week for the first time in years, he heaped blame upon his fellow party member, PM Bruce Golding, who has been described as a “known criminal affiliate” of Dudus, the same man the U.S. wants extradited on drug charges. And despite catastrophic loss of life, property, and public welfare—Dudus remains at large.
“What kind of country have we become?” Seaga asks. “I’ve never heard of this. It happens in Chile under Pinochet. It happens in Africa. It does not happen here!”
“Hypocrites profit at the expense of honorable men.”