‘God has been kind’ - ‘Seven-star general’ bows out of politics

Having attained ‘seven-star general’ status in political parlance, and arguably one of Jamaica’s longest-serving ministers in any administration over a 23-year period, Robert Pickersgill, whose decades-long political career is coming to an end, is saluting those who introduced him to public service and others who helped to make the long journey for him a success.

“There is nothing better than being able to serve,” Pickersgill told The Gleaner at the Dinthill High School recently, where he attended an event for principals of schools in his St Catherine North West constituency.

“God has been kind. Jamaica has been kind. St Catherine North West even kinder than that,” he said.

Immortalised as the People’s National Party’s (PNP) chairman for life, or chairman emeritus, Pickersgill shared that he was the only remaining senior political figure in his party that sat at the feet of every leader of the PNP, beginning from Norman Manley to his son Michael, to P.J. Patterson, Portia Simpson Miller and Peter Phillips, the current president.

Pickersgill served as chairman for 25 years, a feat that may never be equalled by any of his successors.

“And in all my 25 years, I had only one contest and it was with Comrade Peter Phillips, who suffered a defeat.”

He said that K.D. Knight was his campaign manager when he defeated Phillips for the chairmanship.

Completing a stint as councillor for the Mountain View division in the then Kingston and St Andrew Corporation, now the KSAMC, the next natural progression for Pickersgill was to offer himself as a representative of a constituency.

Patterson, who played a pivotal role in young Pickersgill’s political career, introduced him to the hierarchy of the party in St Catherine North West, where the seat had become vacant.

In 1989, Pickersgill went up against the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) John Franklin and scored a resounding win by 4,945 votes.

“He did not prove to be much of a competition, because I believe I won by nearly 5,000 votes,” he pointed out.

“The rest is history,” said the PNP stalwart, noting that his last electoral win in 2016 catapulted him into the realm of a seven-star general, having scored seven consecutive victories at the national polls to serve his constituents for 31 years in Parliament.

The senior PNP politician’s career is replete with the word ‘chairman’, having served in that capacity from Taylor Hall at The University of the West Indies to the PNP Youth Organisation, followed by the chairmanship for St Catherine North West. He then succeeded Patterson as chairman when the former party leader was elevated to the presidency of the party.

However, along his journey he also became a vice-president and treasurer of the party.

Declaring that he has never lost an internal election in the party, the 77-year old politician said he once toyed with the idea of challenging one of the party’s most popular leaders, Portia Simpson Miller, for the leadership of the PNP.

“At one stage I was going to contest for the post of president, but after I had one or two meetings, I was convinced that I could not beat Portia, so I didn’t bother.”

Many mentors

On the question of who was his mentor in politics, Pickersgill found it difficult to narrow it down to one person, even as he hailed the contributions that former prime ministers Michael Manley, Patterson and Simpson Miller made to his political career.

Of the seven consecutive wins in St Catherine North West, the JLP’s Sandra Nesbeth suffered five defeats from 1993 to 2011.

When the name Sandra Nesbeth was mentioned, Pickersgill interjected: “A very beautiful woman.” Whether Nesbeth was a born loser or sacrificial lamb for the JLP one may never know, but doubtless, Pickersgill said he loved his political adversary.

Owing to physical challenges, the senior Opposition lawmaker is not in attendance at the parliamentary sittings as often as he used to in the past.

However, at the height of his political career when he appeared in Parliament, there were whispers of commendation about his sartorial elegance.

“Very early, I learned that you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, and this whole business of how you appear is of the utmost importance,” he said.

He recalled being featured in The Gleaner’s Outlook magazine as the best dressed male for many years. The parliamentary sittings were never short of frequent bantering, and Pickersgill was one of the chief instigators. He recalled telling one of his opponents while being heckled: “Those who think by the inch and speak by the yard deserve to be kicked by the foot.” However, he noted that it was said in good humour.

He named controversial lawmaker Everald Warmington as one of the government MPs he occasionally exchanges barbs with, divulging that he is his church brother. “He is quite a heckler, but in fairness to him he can take it,” he added.

Asked what advice he gave to a crying Kern Spencer in 2007 when then Energy Minister Clive Mullings made a presentation on the so-called Cuban light bulb scandal in Parliament, Pickersgill, who was sitting behind Spencer, said he urged him not to respond to the allegations.

“’I know how you feel, so you should not speak at this time’, and he followed me and sat down,” Pickersgill said he told Spencer.

“As it turned out in that whole saga, I was the only – and I am not boasting – PNP person who was with him, stood by him, went to court and supported him because I don’t know what they were talking about.

“I followed the thing right through and not only was he found not guilty, it was on a no-case submission. It made me feel so proud,” he said.

Spencer was represented by attorney-at-law K.D. Knight.

When asked if he would walk the same journey in his political life if he had the chance to do it all over again, Pickersgill pronounced an emphatic “yes” three times.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com