NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Bruce Golding

Bruce Golding (born on December 5, 1947 in Jamaica) is a Jamaican politician, and currently the head of the Jamaica Labour Party, the ruling party in the Jamaican parliament. He is married to Lorna Golding and has three children, Steven, Sherene and Ann-Merita. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... The Prime Minister of Jamaica is Jamaicas head of government, currently Percival Patterson. ... December 5 is the 339th day (340th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Chapelton is the name of several places: Chapelton, Jamaica Chapelton, Devon, England Chapelton railway station Chapelton, Aberdeenshire, Scotland Chapelton, Angus, Scotland Chapelton, Port Glasgow, Scotland Chapelton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland Chapeltown (name of several places) Chapeltoun, estate in East Ayrshire, Scotland Chapletown, Moray, Scotland Category: ... Location latitude 18Â°15N, longitude 77Â°12W Capital town Spanish Town Other towns Portmore, Old Harbour, Ewarton, Linstead County Middlesex Area 1,192 square km Rank Jamaicas fourth largest parish Population 500,000 in 2001 Commerce Tourism, Agriculture, Manufacturing St Catherine (capital Spanish Town) is a parish... The Jamaica Labour Party is a conservative political party in Jamaica. ... December 5 is the 339th day (340th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Jamaica Labour Party is a conservative political party in Jamaica. ...

Bruce Golding was born on 5th December 1947, the son of Tacius Golding and Enid Golding (nee Bent), both teachers. He was the third of four children, the second (the only girl) died shortly after birth. He was actually born in Clarendon at the home of his godmother, Mrs. Winnifred Stewart (who was the mother of Mrs. Percival Broderick) where his mother was staying in order to be close to her doctor. However, a few days after he was born he was taken to the family home at Ginger Ridge, St Catherine where his birth was officially registered.

In 1949 when he was only 2 years old his family moved to St. Faiths district near Browns Hall, St Catherine where he spent the next 5 years. At the age of 5 although still 2 years away from enrollment age, he started attending the Watermount Elementary School, the headmaster of which was the late early childhood education pioneer, Dr. D.R.B. Grant. In January 1954, he was sent to live for 6 months with his aunt at Skibo in Portland and attended the Skibo Elementary School where she was a teacher and her husband was the Headmaster. He returned to St Faiths in June 1954 and was enrolled at the Macca Tree Elementary School to which his father had been posted as Headmaster in 1923 immediately after graduating from Mico College. He was there for only 6 months as in January 1955 his mother accepted a teaching post at Alpha Academy in Kingston necessitating her along with the three children to relocate to Kingston. After arriving in Kingston, Golding was enrolled at the Alpha Primary School on South Camp Road. In his third year there he sat the Common Entrance examination in 1957 and although his grade was above the qualifying mark he was denied a free place on the grounds that he was not yet 10 years old and could therefore afford to wait another year. He refused to accept this and without the knowledge of his parents he went to St George's College armed with his Common Entrance scores and was in the process of explaining his plight to the Headmaster's secretary when the Headmaster himself, Fr. Edward Donahue, entered the office and overheard the conversation. He took Golding into his office and after listening to his story agreed to accept him as a first form student subject to his parents' willingness to pay tuition fees since he did not have a free place award from the Ministry of Education.

Golding spent 5 years at St George's College, successfully sitting the Senior Cambridge examinations in 1962 before he had reached the age of 15. He received a Grade II certificate with distinctions in Maths & English.

In 1963 he transferred to Jamaica College to pursue A Level studies. He successfully sat the A level examinations in 1966 in Economics, History and Religious Knowledge. From that early stage he demonstrated strong leadership qualities and after attending Jamaica College for only 1 ½ years he was appointed a school prefect (serving along with Dr. Peter Phillips). The following year he was appointed Headboy.

Golding entered the UWI in 1966 and graduated in 1969 with a BSc degree in Economics (2nd class Honours) majoring in Public Administration.

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. He acted as Prime Minister on a number of occasions when the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister were away from the island. In 1984 Golding was elected Chairman of the JLP succeeding the late Dr. Ronald Irvine.

Following the JLP defeat in 1989 he was named Shadow Minister of Finance and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. His leadership of the investigations into the furniture scandal, distribution of zinc to hurricane victims and irregularities in the sale of government lands made a strong impression on the public.

In the early 1990s, after considerable reflection and analysis, Golding felt the need for reform of Jamaica's political system. He was concerned that the history of political tribalism had polarized the society and had prevented the people from uniting behind common goals. He embarked on a crusade both within the JLP and publicly for fundamental constitutional changes and major reform of our political culture and practices. Public response was overwhelmingly positive but much less so within the JLP some of whose senior members were reluctant to embrace his ideas for change.

He then announced his intention to form a new political party that would be "new and different, inclusive not exclusionary", committed to fundamental reform of our constitutional arrangements and political system. This gave birth to the National Democratic Movement and Golding was elected its first President.

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 in North East St. Ann. Shortly after, Golding announced his resignation as president of the NDM.

Golding withdrew from political activity and in April 2002 started hosting a daily talk show “Disclosure” on Hot-102, replacing Wilmot Perkins’ “Perkins on Line”. The show was a significant success and by July of that year the All-Media Survey showed that it was second in ratings only to RJR’s Hotline.

Even during his tenure with the NDM, Golding always figured prominently in opinion polls as a possible leader of the JLP and this always gave rise to speculation of his return to that party. This speculation intensified after he was the keynote speaker at a G2K public forum in May 2002 and as guest speaker at fundraising events for JLP MPs Andrew Holness and Pearnel Charles.

In September 2002 shortly after the announcement of new elections and after intensive behind-the-scene negotiations, Golding rejoined the JLP under a Memorandum of Understanding under which the JLP committed itself to:

Re-examine the issue of separation of powers and to ensure that it is placed before the people in a referendum as an option.

Develop practical initiatives to eliminate political tribalism and garrison politics.

Establish a Special Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute corruption among public officials.

Allocate 2 ½ % of the annual budget to be distributed equally among all constituencies to finance projects and ensure adequate provision of basic amenities.

Ensure that all oversight committees of Parliament are chaired by a member of the Opposition to facilitate greater transparency and accountability in government operations.

Make provision for the Leader of the Opposition to make statements in Parliament on the same basis as government Ministers.

Golding rejoined the JLP merely three weeks before Election Day at which time the JLP had fallen behind the PNP in opinion polls. The fact that the JLP performed substantially better polling 48% to the PNP's 52% and winning 26 seats to the PNP's 34 is widely attributed to the impact of his return to the party.

Following the elections Golding was appointed to the Senate and named Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.

On his return to the JLP, he was elected unopposed as Chairman of the party. He was also elected unopposed as Leader of the JLP in February 2005.

In April 2005, Mr.Golding was elected Member of Parliament for the constituency of West Kingston.

Golding and his wife Lorna have been married for 32 years and are the parents of one son and two daughters: Sherene: Graduate of Howard University, Rutgers University and now completing law studies at Georgetown University. Steven: Graduate of Johns Hopkins University and a Garvey scholar. Ann-Merita: Currently enrolled at Howard University.

Categories: 1947 births | Living people | Jamaican politicians The countries of the Commonwealth Realm share the same monarch. ... Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor; born 21 April 1926) is Queen of sixteen sovereign states, holding each crown and title equally. ... This page lists Governors-General of Jamaica. ... Professor Kenneth Octavius Hall, ON, OJ (Born in Lucea, Jamaica April 24, 1941) is the current Governor-General of Jamaica. ... The Prime Minister of Jamaica is Jamaicas head of government, currently Percival Patterson. ... Most Hon. ... Parliament is the legislative branch of the government of Jamaica. ... Parliament is the legislative branch of the government of Jamaica. ... Parliament is the legislative branch of the government of Jamaica. ... Political parties in Jamaica lists political parties in Jamaica. ... Politics of Jamaica Categories: Election related stubs | Elections in Jamaica ... General elections were held in Jamaica on 16 October 2002. ... General elections will be held in Jamaica in October 2007. ... Jamaica is divided into fourteen parishes (capitals in parentheses)- Clarendon Parish (May Pen) Hanover Parish (Lucea) Kingston Parish (Kingston) Manchester Parish (Mandeville) Portland Parish (Port Antonio) Saint Andrew Parish (Half Way Tree) Saint Ann Parish (Saint Anns Bay) Saint Catherine Parish (Spanish Town) Saint Elizabeth Parish (Black River) Saint... Jamaica has diplomatic relations with most nations and is a member of the United Nations and the Organization of American States. ... Jamaica has a modest number of diplomatic missions in the world, even within its own peripheral region of the Caribbean. ... Information on politics by country is available for every country, including both de jure and de facto independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. ...