History, it can be argued, never makes a mistake in appointing human beings to their special places in life.
Why, for example, was Portia Lucretia Simpson chosen to become Jamaica’s first woman prime minister? She was not to the manor born, nor was she the most educated Jamaican woman.
She did not have the powers of articulation attributed to her predecessors Norman Manley, Michael Manley and P J Patterson. But Portia Simpson Miller became prime minister for the right reason. She was the overwhelming choice of the hungry masses, the poor and indigent, the voiceless and forgotten, the far descendants of beaten slaves whose only power was to elect themselves a political saviour and rest in her their impatient hope for even temporary relief. History, indeed, does not err.
For Desmond Allen’s compelling interview with the prime minister, read this Wednesday’s (February 5) edition of the Jamaica Observer, marking the 40th anniversary of her entry into representational politics.
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Portia Simpson Miller — The 40th anniversary interview
