Эдвард Сига: Ямайканың бұрынғы премьер-министрінің өмірі мен қызметі

Former Prime Minister of Jamaica (1930–2019)

Edward Philip George Seaga (///s//i/'/ɑː//ɡ//ə/ or / /'/æ// /; 28 May 1930 – 28 May 2019) was a Jamaican politician and record producer. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1980 to 1989, and the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party from 1974 to 2005. He served as leader of the opposition from 1974 to 1980, and again from 1989 until January 2005. His retirement from political life marked the end of Jamaica's founding generation in active politics. He was the last serving politician to have entered public life before independence in 1962, as he was appointed to the Legislative Council (now the Senate) in 1959. Seaga is credited with having built the financial and planning infrastructure of the country after independence, as well as having developed its arts and crafts, and awareness of national heritage. As a record producer and record company owner of West Indies Records Limited, Seaga also played a major role in the development of the Jamaican music industry. Seaga died on 28 May 2019, on his eighty ninth birthday.

Edward Philip George Seaga was born on 28 May 1930, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States to Philip George Seaga, who was of Lebanese Jamaican descent, and Erna (née Maxwell), who was Jamaican of African, Scottish and Indian descent. Erna was the daughter of Elizabeth Campbell (maiden name), daughter of John Zungaroo Campbell. Phillip Seaga had moved to the US seeking to take advantage of the prosperity of the Roaring Twenties, but the Wall Street Crash of 1929 scotched those dreams. Three months after Edward's birth in Boston, the Seagas returned to Jamaica. He was baptised in Kingston's Anglican Parish Church on 5 December 1930. The young Seaga was educated at Wolmer's Boys', one of the Wolmer's Schools in Jamaica. He went to the United States for higher education, graduating from Harvard University in 1952 with a Bachelor of Arts (Harvard AB) degree in the Social Sciences. Before embarking on his political career, Seaga was a music producer and promoter. He subsequently took a research post at the University of the West Indies. He continued to produce recordings by other artists and in the late 1950s set up West Indies Records Limited, releasing early recordings by artists such as Higgs and Wilson and Byron Lee & the Dragonaires.

Seaga's political career began in 1959 when Alexander Bustamante, founder of the JLP, nominated him to serve in the Upper House of the Jamaican Parliament, the Legislative Council (later the Senate). In April 1962, Seaga was elected Member of Parliament for West Kingston, the waterfront area in the capital city. Historically, it has been the oldest settlement in Kingston for poor, working class residents, many of whom are unemployed. There was a lot of political violence in the 1970s. This allegedly started in 1975, after Henry Kissinger failed in his attempts to get Manley to stop his support for Cuba and Angola, and their fight against the armies of apartheid South Africa. According to former CIA agent turned Marxist Philip Agee, the CIA supplied arms to supporters of the JLP, and there was a significant upturn in political violence; Seaga repeatedly denied the accusation. The 1980 Jamaican general election featured considerable violence including running gun battles, and would be won by the JLP in a landslide.

Edward P. G. Seaga became Prime Minister of Jamaica following 30 October 1980 general election, when the JLP won a landslide victory over the incumbent PNP, with the largest mandate until 1993, when the PNP surpassed that total. Out of 60 seats contested in 1980, the JLP won 51 seats to the PNP's nine. In terms of foreign policy, the Caribbean has long been seen as an unofficial "backyard" of the United States of America. In a region with such a complicated, intertwined history meshed with various world superpowers, the act of making decisions that can irrevocably effect the country is handled with care. Understanding the threat associated with communism, Seaga reversed the hands of friendship extended by Manley to Cuba and Grenada, two countries that had adopted strong anti American stances during the Russo American political standoff of the 70s and 80s. In an attempt to steer his country into the clear, he was forced into adopting an alliance with world leaders such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, Seaga cut ties with Cuba shortly after winning the 1980 election, and he, as the representative of the strongest Caribbean nation, indirectly acknowledged the Caribbean's support for the US invasion of Grenada in 1983. In doing so, Seaga is credited with preventing the eradication of Jamaica economically and saving the country from a path leading to shackling sanctions like Cuba or a foreign invasion to eliminate communism as seen in Grenada. In the 1980s, the Seaga administration became embroiled in accusations of a dark circle of narco banking involving the contras of Nicaragua, the CIA and the Israeli money launderer Eli Tisona. Seaga's Agro 21 programme was accused of involvement in cocaine trafficking from Colombia, and its Spring Plains project employed Shower Posse's Lester Coke, a. k. a. Jim Brown, as Head of Security. However, these allegations went unproven, with all investigations coming up blank.

Seaga served as Leader of Opposition from 1974 to 1980. The JLP was defeated in a landslide by Manley's PNP in the 1989 Jamaican general election, by a margin of 45 seats to 15, and Seaga returned to a long spell as Leader of Opposition. Patterson stepped down on 26 February 2006, and was replaced by Portia Simpson Miller, Jamaica's first female prime minister. During this period of time, he suffered leadership challenges from a number of his colleagues, such as the "Gang of Five" of Errol Anderson, Edmund Bartlett, Karl Samuda, Douglas Vaz, and Pearnel Charles. In 1995, Bruce Golding left the JLP to form a new party, the National Democratic Movement (NDM). In 2002, Golding rejoined the JLP and in November 2003 was again elected chairman of the party. He was elected leader of the JLP, and also the leader of the opposition, on 20 February 2005, succeeding Seaga.

On 22 August 1965, Seaga married Marie Elizabeth "Mitsy" Constantine, Miss Jamaica 1965. They had two sons, Christopher and Andrew, and a daughter Anabella. This marriage was dissolved in 1995. On 14 June 1996, he married Carla Frances Vendryes. Their daughter Gabrielle was born 16 September 2002. With a Masters in Public Administration, Vendryes Seaga has a special interest in sociological research and the development of Jamaican handicraft. She founded the Solidarity project to assist the poor in small entrepreneurial enterprises. She founded an organization to assist victims of violence. Seaga was deeply involved in cultural activities, particularly folk music and all aspects of things Jamaican. A keen gardener and amateur landscaper, he used his love for plants and flowers to develop the Enchanted Garden resort, an attraction in Jamaica. As an athlete, Seaga played on several college and school teams: field hockey, cricket, football, rifle, tennis and swimming (diving). He participated as a member of various hunting clubs and the Jamaica Skeet Club.

In West Kingston, he became the president of the Tivoli Gardens Football, Basketball and Netball clubs. He then became Chairman of the Premier League Football Association and the Professional Football Association of Jamaica, with responsibility for the 12 Premier League teams and the staging of the Premier League.

On 20 January 2005, Edward Seaga retired as Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party, a position he had held for 30 years. He retired as a Member of Parliament after serving for 43 years in the House of Representatives, in addition to two years in the Senate. He has the longest period of continuous service of any elected representative in the Caribbean region. With appointments to academia at the University of the West Indies, the Institute of Jamaica and the University of Technology, he became engaged in research and writing, as well as teaching and leadership. On 28 May 2019, his 89th birthday, Seaga died in Miami, Florida, where he had been receiving treatment for cancer. Seaga's body was repatriated to Jamaica on 2 June,
and received a state funeral on 23 June, with religious services held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral before being laid to rest in National Heroes Park.