UPDATED: Seaga hospitalised in the US
Published:Friday | May 10, 2019 | 12:00 AM
Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga has been hospitalised in the United States of America.
Seaga, 88, is battling cancer and its complications.
The Gleaner understands that Jamaica’s fifth prime minister, who has been receiving medical attention for the past four weeks, remained mentally alert.
Anabella Seaga, his daughter, wrote on Facebook yesterday, “Thanks for all your calls and well wishes. Dad is in the hospital but fine.”
Seaga, the island’s longest-serving member of parliament, is the last surviving member of the framers of the Jamaican Constitution. He served as leader of the Jamaica Labour Party for 31 years and as member of parliament for West Kingston for 43 years – from 1962 until 2005 when he retired.
He currently serves as chancellor of the University of Technology, Jamaica, where he was reappointed to a three-year term with effect from November 7, 2017.
Recently, Seaga, who is no stranger to controversy, was unperturbed by the protests of opposition members and basked in what he described as an “extraordinary moment” when the North-South Highway was named in his honour. He even sang parts of Prince Buster’s 1966 hit Hard Man Fe Dead.
“I am 88. I must be a hard man fi dead. But no matter whether it is 88 or 98, I am still going to be doing my best for the country,” he declared then.
Seaga will turn 89 on May 28.
NOTE: An earlier version of this story had said Seaga was on a life support machine. A relative has since reported that this is not true.