Thwaites bids politics farewell

Ronald ‘Ronnie’ Thwaites, a man of the cloth, who also wears the hat of family man, politician, lawyer, journalist and talk show host.

Thwaites, who has been the Kingston Central member of parliament since 1997, will not be seeking re-election in the September 3 general election.

As he sipped on a cup of mint tea at his law offices on West Avenue in Kingston,the 76-year-old spoke at length about his political career.

He entered representational politics in 1996 and stood for election in 1997 to represent Kingston Central, a constituency he knew well because he practised law in the area.

But his interest in political matters predated that time, as a member of the Abeng group in the 1970s and the New Beginning Movement in the 1990s.

“I believe that Jesus is to be found in the marketplace and so I gravitated towards the People’s National Party because their philosophy of democratic socialism, while not being identical to the principles I stood for, was closer than other parties,” he recalled.

“In 2002, before the election, there was an allegation of impropriety that was levelled at me, and I didn’t wait for any invitation or push, I resigned and the election took place and I didn’t contest. Within two months, the auditor general cleared me entirely so I remained engaged between 2002 and 2007,” Thwaites recounted.

He contested the 2007, 2011, 2016 elections, winning all by more than 1,000 votes.

Serving residents challenging

Thwaites admitted that it was challenging serving the interests of the inner-city residents from the seven communities which make up the constituency.

He described them as a “gracious, forgiving, loving, fractious set of people”.

“The system of political economy which we have in Jamaica will never be able to provide for the reasonable aspirations of the people of Central Kingston.

Certainly, good things and improvement can happen, but it is not possible under the present arrangement for landownership, financing education, health, all of these things, for Central Kingston ever to be like upper St Andrew,” he said, adding that the unemployment rate is at least 60 per cent.

Poverty and crime are recurring decimals in the area. Here is how Thwaites dealt with those issues.

“People have this notion of legend that you should be able to point to your legacy and usually that is conflated with some building with your name on it or some road with your designation. I have none of those and I wish none of those. The central effort that I have made over the period is to encourage education, education and education,” he declared.

“Assisted by my approach and activity, there is no politically inspired crime any more, and

I thank God for that. In terms of remedying the social conditions that influence crime, I claim no success.”

‘Politics can bruck yuh’

Pointing to a photo frame on the wall with his wife, to whom he has been married for 51 years, he expressed that her sacrifice and understanding, coupled with the support of his children emotionally, physically and sometimes financially, quipping that “politics can bruck yuh” – is how he has managed.

He is thankful that his family life did not become a casualty of his political engagement.

“It is a tragic, understated truth because it is a 24/7 operation, because you have no privacy and you are constantly under scrutiny.”

His son Daniel was his campaign manager for about three elections, while his other six children were supportive of his political pursuits in various ways.

Thwaites was education minister from 2012 to 2016 and often made his customary walk down East Street towards Gordon House on Duke Street for parliamentary sittings.

“When it’s election time, I go door to door, yard to yard and ask people to vote for me. So when they do, what I must do, drive pass dem and wave?”

He said walking levelled him – allowed people to confront him and made it clear that he was not an “elevated boss but a servant of the people”.

“When I became minister, I was offered the usual array of close protection officers who surround you … I declined anything like that. If I’m going to be afraid of the very people who elected me, then I better give up the work,” he said.

Imani Duncan-Price takes up the mantle as the PNP’s standard-bearer for the constituency. Thwaites described her as an “attractive fruit” and which had many contenders.

“I support her ... It would have been nice if we could have had someone from the constituency who was ready to develop, but she is a highly intelligent, extremely passionate and dedicated public servant with experience and pedigree in political and economic life,” he shared.

Thwaites explained that he worries for her as a mother of young children and wife to a busy businessman – “I’m anxious that she is able to balance all of those things.”

He expects that through the Constituency Development Fund and other sources, Duncan-Price will continue to support the educational pursuits of students and his continued effort with the land-titling project.

As he says farewell to politics, his time will be spent with family, writing and completing unfinished legal work.

FIVE FACTS ABOUT THWAITES:

1. He founded the Kingston Legal Aid Clinic in 1972 and co-founded the Montego Bay

Legal Aid Clinic in 1974.

2. He has been engaged in extensive coffee farming.

3. He began a journalism career in 1966.

4. A minister of religion since 1983.

5. An attorney for almost 50 years.

judana.murphy@gleanerjm.com