Bruce Golding

Bruce Golding (2010)

Bruce Golding (born December 5, 1947 in Chapelton in Clarendon Parish , Jamaica ) is a Jamaican politician and chairman of the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP). He was Prime Minister of his country from September 11, 2007 to October 23, 2011.

Life

Golding attended the University of the West Indies , from which he graduated in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 1972 he was elected to parliament for the first time. He represented his constituency, West Saint Catherine , there with interruptions for 19 years. In 1980 he was appointed senator for the ruling party and became minister for building affairs. In the election in December 1983 he was able to win West Saint Catherine back for himself and the JLP and remained a minister until 1989. He won his constituency again in 1989 and became its spokesman for economic affairs after his party's electoral defeat.

In 1995 Golding left the JLP and founded the National Democratic Movement , with which he ran unsuccessfully in the following general election. In 2002 he returned to the JLP and became its spokesperson again in 2003. In 2005 he was elected party chairman. On September 3, 2007, he won the general election with the JLP, ending the 18-year hegemony of the People's National Party . On September 11th he was sworn in by Governor General Kenneth Hall as the eighth Prime Minister of Jamaica.

Before the election he had declared in the Sunday Herald in April 2006 under the headline “No homos!” That “ homosexuals would not find a place in his cabinet”, which was supported by various pastors and a union leader. During a state visit to London in 2008, he stated in a BBC interview that Jamaican culture had long been anti-homosexual, but he believed it was changing. He went on to say that his country would not allow values ​​to be imposed on it by foreign lobby groups. Golding was criticized for this by local LGBT activists.

On September 25, 2011, he announced before the central executive committee of the JLP that he would not stand for re-election as party chairman at the party congress planned for November 2011 and that he would also step down from the office of prime minister as soon as the party congress had elected a successor. He justified this step with his age as well as the criticism of himself in connection with the scandal surrounding the extradition proceedings of the alleged gang leader and drug dealer Christopher Coke to the USA. When the election of Andrew Holness as Golding's successor was considered certain, since no opposing candidates were nominated for the election of the new party chairman, Golding preferred his resignation as Prime Minister on October 23, 2011.

literature

• Bruce Golding , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 02/2012 from January 10, 2012, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

Web links

• The Jamaican Information Service on Bruce Golding (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gary Younge: Troubled island , guardian.co.uk, April 27, 2006 (English).
2. ↑ Golding talks about policing, gays on BBC ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Jamaica Gleaner, May 21, 2008. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
3. ↑ Prime Minister: Homosexuality is not Jamaican , queer.de, May 23, 2008.
4. ↑ National Broadcast by Prime Minister Golding, October 2, 2011  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Office of the Prime Minister, October 2, 2011. Retrieved October 6, 2011.  
5. ↑ PM Golding to tender his Formal Resignation on Sunday, Oct 23. New Prime Minister to be sworn in at King's House ( Memento of the original from October 20, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Office of the Prime Minister, October 18, 2011. Retrieved October 21, 2011. 

predecessor	Office	successor
Portia Simpson Miller	Prime Minister of Jamaica September 11, 2007-23. October 2011	Andrew Holness