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Denham Town Primary to be renamed in Seaga’s honour

Published:Monday | June 22, 2020 | 12:27 AMJason Cross/Gleaner Writer
Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government and community development, hands over a cheque to Jael Nelson, beneficiary of the Edward Seaga Foundation, to fund her university tuition. The presentation was made during a Father’s Day service in honour of
Ian Allen/Photographer
Desmond McKenzie, minister of local government and community development, hands over a cheque to Jael Nelson, beneficiary of the Edward Seaga Foundation, to fund her university tuition. The presentation was made during a Father’s Day service in honour of the late Edward Seaga at the Pentecostal City Mission Church in Denham Town, Kingston, on Sunday.

Denham Town Primary will be renamed the Edward Seaga Primary and Infant School in August.

Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie made the announcement yesterday during a special church service at the Pentecostal City Mission Church in Kingston to celebrate the memories and achievements of Seaga, a former prime minister and decades-long leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

Seaga, who represented Kingston Western for more than four decades from 1962 to 2005, died last year on May 28, his birthday. He was 89.

McKenzie, the current member of parliament for Kingston Western, praised the late parliamentarian for his commitment to education, adding that he had taken up the mantle of giving away millions of dollars in scholarships to students from the constituency.

Following Seaga’s death last year, a scholarship fund was launched for students from the constituency. This scholarship covers the four-year university financial obligations of students.

Over the next three years, the fund is projected to spend $10 million in the aid of six students selected to attend universities locally and overseas.

McKenzie, himself a protege of Seaga’s, made mention of Jael Nelson, a young woman from the constituency with ambitions of becoming a neurosurgeon, who has been accepted to Long Island University in New York. Her course of study will be fully funded.

“She had been trying on her own to find the balance ... to fulfil her dream. I am proud to announce that the Edward Seaga Scholarship will provide the US$27,000 to ensure that her dream becomes a reality,” he said.

He continued: “It is only left for us to continue the brave work of perhaps the greatest political leader, and one of his most outstanding achievements in West Kingston was in the field of education. Mr Seaga spent an enormous amount of time ensuring that education became the vehicle that our young people would use to take themselves out of poverty.”

The service was attended by JLP Chairman Robert Montague; Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange, also a Seaga protégé; and Matthew Samuda, state minister in the Ministry of National Security.

The sermon was delivered by the Rev Astor Carlyle.

jason.cross@gleanerjm.com