Seymour Mullings

Seymour St. Edward "Foggy" Mullings OJ CD (born May 12, 1931 in Cave Valley , Saint Ann Parish , † October 9, 2013 in Kingston ) was a Jamaican diplomat and politician of the People's National Party (PNP) who, among other things, between 1993 and 2001 Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister from 1995 to 2000.

Life

After attending Jamaica College in Saint Andrew Parish, Mullings worked as a jazz pianist from the late 1940s and played with musicians such as Don Drummond and Wilton Gaynair, as well as in bands such as Clue J & His Blues Blasters.

He was elected as a candidate of the People's National Party (PNP) in a 1969 by-election to the House of Representatives for the first time and represented the constituency of South Eastern St. Ann until the PNP was electoral boycott in the December 15, 1983 elections .

In 1979 he was appointed to a government by Prime Minister Michael Manley for the first time and initially held the office of Minister of Agriculture for a short time before he then served from 1979 until the end of Manley's term on November 1, 1980 after his defeat in the October 30, 1980 elections held the post of Minister for Health and Social Security.

In the House of Representatives elections of February 9, 1989, Mullings was re-elected to the House of Representatives for the PNP in the South Eastern St. Ann constituency, to which he was a member until 2001.

After the PNP's electoral victory and Manley's inauguration as Prime Minister on February 13, 1989, Mullings first became Minister of Finance in 1989, before he became Minister of Agriculture again in 1990 as part of a government reshuffle and held this office until 1995 under Percival J. Patterson , who on March 30 1992 had taken over the office of Prime Minister from Manley. At the same time he held the office of Vice Prime Minister in the Patterson government between 1993 and 2001 and was Jamaica's Foreign Minister from 1995 to 2000.

After leaving government and parliament, Mullings, who was awarded the Order of Jamaica , succeeded Richard Leighton Bernal as Ambassador to the United States on November 6, 2001 and held this diplomatic post until he was replaced by Gordon Shirley on July 12, 2004 In the elections of October 16, 2002, fellow party member Aloun Assamba won the House of Representatives in the constituency of South Eastern St. Ann .

The Seymour Mullings Boulevard in Saint Ann Parish was named in his honor in 2012 .

Web links

• Short biography in rulers.org
• Prime Minister Saddened at Mullings Passing (Obituary of October 9, 2013 on the Prime Minister's homepage, accessed on June 25, 2015)
• Former deputy PM Seymour Mullings dies at 82.Seymour Mullings dies after long illness . In: The Jamaica Observer of October 10, 2013
• Foggy could have been great - No known recordings of late politician, musician leads to bigger loss . In: The Jamaica Gleaner of October 20, 2013