What's next for Bruce Golding?

Howard Campbell, Sunday Gleaner Writer

When Bruce Golding leaves King's House this afternoon following the swearing-in of Andrew Holness as Jamaica's new prime minister, it is uncertain what direction his personal and professional lives will take.

Golding, 63, announced his resignation as prime minister on September 25, paving the way for Holness, the popular education minister, to become Jamaica's ninth prime minister.

Amid reports last week that Golding had already been offered an assignment with an overseas agency, information minister and confidant Daryl Vaz on Friday said he did not know if Golding would follow in the footsteps of former United States president Bill Clinton and former British prime minister Tony Blair, and serve the government in the capacity of elder adviser/statesman.

"I can't say definitively if he will step away from politics but it is quite likely based on what has transpired in (in Jamaica) the past," Vaz said. "What I do know is that at the moment he just wants some time to rest and relax."

It has become the norm internationally for leaders to stay in public life once they leave office. Clinton has maintained an international profile through his William J. Clinton Foundation which helps address AIDS and poverty around the world.

Blair is currently the Middle East envoy for the United Nations, European Union, United States and Russia.

In Jamaica, former prime ministers Edward Seaga and P.J. Patterson have followed suit. Seaga is chancellor at the University of Technology and president of the Premier League Clubs Association, while Patterson is a key figure for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in the restoration of Haiti.

Internationally respected

Vaz did not rule out Golding making a contribution on the international stage.

"It is no secret that he is well respected internationally and has developed a number of relationships with powerful leaders, so he has wide options where that is concerned," Vaz said.

The outgoing prime minister's future as member of parliament for West Kingston is also uncertain. Vaz said Golding met recently with his constituents but has not said what role he will play in the area he has represented since 2005.

Many in the constituency roundly criticised Golding in the aftermath of the May, 2010 attack on west Kingston by security forces. They had gone into the community searching for fugitive and west Kingston enforcer Christopher 'Dudus' Coke who was wanted in the US to face charges of arms and drug running.

Approximately 73 persons died in the fire-fight. Coke, who fought the US deportation request with the support of Golding's administration, was captured and escorted to the US in June last year.

In a televised broadcast explaining his resignation, Golding admitted that the Coke extradition influenced his decision to resign four years into his five-year term.

Bruce Golding is the first Jamaican prime minister who has yielded to public pressure and resigned.

Polls showed his favourability rating had sagged significantly during the last year, leaving him in danger of being remembered as Jamaica's most vilified prime minister. Vaz, however, believes history will be kind to Golding.

"He has admitted that he has made mistakes which is not unusual for a human being," Vaz said. "But based on how he has handled it, he has regained a lot of the respect he may have lost and people are looking at him in the way he should be looked at, as a true patriot."