I am privileged during my life to know, and have known, many of the political and business leaders of Jamaica. I respect most of them for the contribution and sacrifice they have made to Jamaica, because the truth is that we are all replaceable commodities in this cycle called life, and the thing that makes us more valuable is the contribution we make to country and others.

A giant among such men is Edward Seaga, who I had the distinct honour of having a close relationship with during his later years, and who I had many conversations with.

I first became aware of Seaga during the turbulent times of the 1970s, when Jamaica went through a state of emergency, food rations, frequent power cuts, and very divisive politics.

Seaga was then leader of the JLP and espoused an ideology in sharp contrast to the democratic socialism of the day. My father worked very closely with the JLP campaign and he would drag me to committee meetings with him and, in fact, on election day in 1980 I was with him and Ryan Peralto at Jacques Road on Mountain View helping with political organisation. He always told me about Seaga and how firm he was.

My next “absent” encounter with Seaga was when I was a second year student at UWI and he imposed a cess on UWI students of somewhere above $3,000 annually and as students we were livid. We shut down the university and marched on JBC at the time to demonstrate and the next day to the Ministry of Finance, when Seaga was prime minister and minister of finance. On the third day my father encouraged me to write to him with an alternative, which I did. I recommended that instead of imposing the cess he should think about increasing the education tax to cover the amount needed.

He responded in a letter, personally signed, thanking me for the suggestion. Subsequently, the education tax was increased and the cess was reduced to one third of the original amount. I don’t know if my letter had any impact but at the time I felt I was listened to. I later regretted not being able to locate that letter. It was during this time that I wrote a letter to the press that was also published as my first print commentary.

I remember clearly also that after my first degree graduation ceremony, in 1987, from UWI, I didn’t go out to celebrate with friends but rather went to a political meeting with my father at Kingsley Sangster’s house, and it was during this period that I met and became familiar with the likes of Enid Bennett, Dwight Nelson, Ed Bartlett, Derrick Smith, and Ossie Harding.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business-report/edward-seaga-a-man-for-all-seasons_166086