President Ronald Reagan’s closest Caribbean ally and was able to boost a struggling economy that was struck by soaring inflation and widespread joblessness. When Seaga’s Labour Party ousted the incumbent Manley and the democratic socialist administration of the People’s National Party in 1980, Seaga described the landslide victory as a “declaration against communism in Jamaica.” Edward Seaga Era of prosperity, violenceĪs Jamaica’s leader, Seaga instituted a pro-American, free-market economy, ushering in what many consider the island’s most prosperous period. distribution company and played a role in introducing ska, a Jamaican music genre, to the world.Īt 29, Seaga was appointed to Jamaica’s upper legislative house by Labour Party founder and Jamaica’s first prime minister, Alexander Bustamante.Īs opposition leader in the 1970s, Seaga railed against the socialist agenda of Prime Minister Michael Manley, saying it crippled the island’s fragile economy. He studied anthropology at Harvard University and published several papers on Afro-Jamaican folklore and Obeah, a religion combining Christian and African rituals.īefore entering politics, Seaga was a major record producer. citizenship at a young age to show his loyalty to Jamaica. He was West Kingston’s representative for 40 consecutive years and held a congressional position longer than anyone in Jamaica’s history.īorn on May 28, 1930, in Massachusetts to Lebanese-Jamaican parents, Seaga renounced his U.S. His political career began in the late 1950s, and he won a parliamentary seat in 1962. Seaga was the only remaining member of the generation of leaders who drafted the constitution when the Caribbean island gained independence from Britain in 1962.

He said, “It is with great sadness that I inform the nation of the passing of the Most Honourable Edward Phillip George Seaga, the fifth Prime Minister of Jamaica.” Since his retirement, he has been a distinguished honorary fellow at the academic level at The University of the West Indies and also serves as chancellor of the University of Technology, Jamaica.Įdward Seaga is known to have shaped Jamaica’s post-independence politics and cultural life.Īndrew Holness, the country’s current prime minister, announced Seaga’s death on Twitter.

Edward Seaga the man who lead Jamaica politics from 1980 to 1989, and was also the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) from 1974 to 2005 when he retired from active politics, has died at 89 on his birth.

Seaga jamaica prime minister