Live Chat : Hon. Hugh Lawson Shearer, contribution to Jamaican Politics

THE MOST HON. HUGH LAWSON SHEARER, ON,OJ MAY 18, 1923 – JULY 05, 2004 .The Most Hon. Hugh Lawson Shearer, Jamaica’s third Prime Minister, was born in Falmouth, Trelawny on May 18, 1923. Mr. Shearer entered the workforce during a period of intense political and labour turmoil in Jamaica. Sir Alexander Bustamante, the undisputed head of the labour movement and founder of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), and Norman Manley, head of the first organised political party in Jamaica, the People’s National Party (PNP), were both engaged in the struggle to reshape and redefine the Jamaican society in the period from 1938 to 1944.Mr. Shearer, who could claim distant kinship to both Bustamante and Manley.  Mr. Shearer began to serve his apprenticeship as a trade unionist. He took part with Bustamante and other union officers in union organisation and in negotiations with employers in some of the most important labour disputes. Mr. Shearer got his first taste of party politics during the 1944 elections, when he campaigned for the “Chief”, as Bustamante was then popularly called, in the Western Kingston constituency. The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) won the election and Mr. Shearer continued his work in the BITU.

On the passing of Sir Donald Sangster, Mr. Shearer was chosen to be Prime Minister of Jamaica. During his tenure as Prime Minister, Jamaica attained its highest ever-gross domestic product (GDP) per capita – US$2,300 – based on rapid growth in agriculture, mining and tourism.He also started a system of major highways, the first being the Kingston to Spanish Town Highway.Mr. Shearer had a special interest in education,