From left: Professor Nigel Harris, vice chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI); Denise Eldemire Shearer, widow of former Prime Minister Hugh Shearer; Pearnel Charles (partially hidden), vice-president of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU); Prime Minister P.J. Patterson; Governor-General Kenneth Hall; Ruddy Spencer (partially hidden), president of the BITU; Prime Minister-designate Portia Simpson Miller and Rheima Holding, wife of the Governor-General. All were gathered in front of the newly renamed Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute, at the UWI, Mona campus, after the unveiling earlier this month. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
A GLEANER-commissioned poll has found that many Jamaicans are of the view that the Government should not name streets and buildings after politicians.
According to the findings of the poll conducted earlier this month by pollster Bill Johnson and his team of researchers, 67 per cent believe that the state should not name streets and buildings after politicians, while 27 per cent support this practice.
The poll surveyed 1,008 persons in 84 communities across the country's 14 parishes on March 4 and 5. The margin of error is plus or minus three per cent. Fifty-two per cent of the respondents were males while 48 per cent were females.
Jamaica's two international airports, the Norman Manley International in Kingston and Sangster International in St. James, are named after former prime ministers. The Norman Manley High School in Kingston and the Norman Manley Law School at the University of the West Indies were also named in honour of Mr. Manley.
Recently, the Trade Union Institute at the University of the West Indies, Mona, was renamed Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute in honour of the late former Prime Minister. And Prime Minister P. J. Patterson recently announced that the National Housing Trust (NHT) head office building in New Kingston is to be renamed in honour of Michael Manley, another late former Prime Minister.
Roads that have been named after politicians include the Bustamante Highway in Claren-don, named after Jamaica's first Prime Minister Sir Alexander Bustamante and Michael Manley Boulevard in east Kingston. Last year, the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation took the decision to rename Ocean Boulevard, down-town Kingston, in honour of Edward Seaga, a former Prime Minister, but People's National Party councillors opposed the move. Mr. Seaga later said he was not interested in his name being used because of the controversy surrounding the proposal.
