‘It was always the intent’

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness on Tuesday confirmed that the Western Children’s Hospital in Montego Bay, St James, wouldill be named in honour of former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who conceptualised the facility.

Holness made the declaration on Tuesday during a ceremony at 1F North Street in downtown Kingston where the main building of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security was renamed the Portia Simpson-Miller Building during Workers’ Week observances.

That ceremony followed another at the National Heroes Circle, where the Ministry of Labour and Social Security’s main building was dedicated to the late former Labour Minister Lynden Newland.

Holness said “it is only proper” that the Western Children’s Hospital bear Simpson Miller’s name as she first announced plans for major Chinese-funded infrastructure and hospital construction projects in August 2013. She returned to Jamaica to outline these plans after securing significant loans and grants with the Government of China during an official state visit to Beijing.

“It was always the intent. The hospital should be named in her honour, and it will be done,” Holness said while going off script during his keynote address.

“I had expressed that directly to the family, and, internally, we had also discussed it. We were just waiting until the hospital was finished and ready at the appropriate time to say that.”

The announcement came moments after Opposition Leader Mark Golding argued that more should be done nationally to honour Simpson Miller’s contribution to Jamaica.

“Her legacy is wide-ranging,” Golding said, while pointing to her stewardship of Jamaica during a difficult economic period.

“As prime minister, from January 2012 to March 2016, she oversaw the successful implementation of an extremely challenging financial programme,” he said.

Golding also praised Simpson Miller’s work in strengthening overseas employment programmes, saying that she ensured that Jamaicans who travelled abroad for work remained represented at home.

“Big up, Sister P! Your legacy is solid,” Golding declared to applause.

The 80-year-old Simpson Miller, Jamaica’s first female prime minister and a former labour minister, was absent from Tuesday’s ceremony because of health challenges. Her grandniece accepted the honour on her behalf.

In his keynote address, Holness described Simpson Miller as “a Jamaican whose public life has been defined by perseverance, compassion, courage, and deep connection to the Jamaican people”.

“The naming of this building in her honour is, therefore, a proper tribute,” he said.

“It recognises not only the former prime minister, but the servant whose political life was rooted in people. It recognises a woman who rose through institutions that were not always easy for women and who, by rising, blazed the path for others.”

Holness said Simpson Miller broke barriers that stood for far too long.

Labour Minister Pearnel Charles Jr said Simpson Miller’s life “was defined by unstinting service to the people of this country”.

“When you think of Portia Simpson Miller, you think of working, working, working,” Charles said.

Charles noted that whether or not one supported Simpson Miller’s political views, everyone was proud to see her become prime minister.

Earlier in the day, gGovernment officials gathered at 14 National Heroes Circle for the dedication of the Lynden G. Newland Building.

Newland, who served as labour minister between 1962 and 1972, is regarded as the “father of the National Insurance Scheme (NIS)”.

The ceremony coincided with the 60th anniversary of the NIS.

Speaking at the ceremony, Culture Minister Olivia Grange said Newland “raised his voice in the Parliament of Jamaica as well as in the Cabinet” on behalf of workers.

“He had witnessed the riots of the 1930s and became a part of the trade unions and political party movements established in that pre-Independence period when Jamaican workers staged their fervent desire for better working conditions,” Grange said.

Holness said Newland’s creation of the NIS reflected a philosophy that “the worker mattered, not only in youth and strength, but also in old age”.

“The National Insurance Scheme gave form to a simple but resonant idea that labour must carry dignity and that dignity must be protected across the cycle of life,” he said.

The prime minister, however, triggered a political response after declaring that “the NHT (National Housing Trust) was born out of the NIS”.

“Surprisingly, too, they know it through the NHT. Yes, the NHT was born out of the NIS,” Holness said.

Golding later sought to rebut the assertion during the second ceremony, pointing instead to the role played by former Prime Minister Michael Manley in the creation and expansion of the NHT.

Holness later defended his position, arguing that Jamaica’s labour and housing institutions evolved together as the country became “more structured, more organised, more urbanisedurbanized, and more corporatised”.

Acting Permanent Secretary Dione Jennings said the ceremonies formed part of a national initiative to recognise Jamaicans “whose outstanding contributions have significantly advanced national development and public service”.

Meanwhile, Holness also told the gathering that the name Portia Simpson Miller Square in Three Miles, St Andrew, will be restored in short order.

The name was removed to facilitate the development of the overpass in the area. 

Holness said the Government is considering naming the overpass in Simpson Miller’s honour but had not yet settled on a name for the area.

Following yesterday’s confirmation by Andrew Holness that the Western Children and Adolescent Hospital would be renamed in honour of Simpson Miller, the People’s National Party released a statement, welcoming the decision.

St James Central caretaker Janice Allen said: “For years, I have publicly advocated for this hospital to bear the name of Portia Simpson Miller because I firmly believe history must properly record and recognise those whose leadership laid the foundation for national development.”

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