Jamaican Prime Minister Visits NSU

Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding, M.P., spoke before a standing-room only crowd at the Miniaci Performing Arts Center. (Photo by Ian Ibbetson)

Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding, M.P., made his first official visit to the United States in March and spoke at Nova Southeastern University. Golding, who was elected last September, held a town-hall meeting at the university on March 28, where he stressed stronger ties between an estimated 250,000 Jamaicans living in Florida and their homeland. Many of those expatriates reside in South Florida.

The Caribbean Law Programs of NSU’s Shepard Broad Law Center hosted Golding’s visit to allow the prime minister to interact with South Florida’s Jamaican community. More than 500 people attended the town-hall meeting, which was held on NSU’s main campus in the Rose and Alfred Miniaci Performing Arts Center.

During the meeting, Golding said his top priorities are eliminating tuition fees for high school students, curbing his country’s dependency on imported food, finding alternative energy source and beefing up early childhood education.

The leader of the Jamaica Labour Party, Golding began his political career in 1972 at the age of 24 when he became the youngest person ever elected to Jamaica’s Parliament, a record that still stands. Golding is the son of Tacius Golding, who served as Speaker of the House of Representatives in Jamaica in the 1960s.