Dr peter phillips jamaica biography of donald

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The Honorable Peter Phillips, OJ, MP holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics, a Masters in Government (from The University of the West Indies), and a Doctorate in Sociology from the State University of New York at Binghamton (USA) where he studied under Professor Immanuel Wallerstein. He served as Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister until 1991, when he was appointed PNP General Secretary and Minister of Special Projects in the Office of the Prime Minister.

Otherwise, Dr Peter Phillips would certainly have been prime minister of Jamaica.

But, instead of lamenting what Dr Phillips did not get the chance to do, political historians could yet see the outgoing Member of Parliament assume the best role he might play for Jamaica yet — a statesman giving to the nation-building project his vast experience as one of the most qualified men in public service and academia.

Last week, 31 years after he first entered the Jamaican House of Representatives, Dr Phillips undoubtedly signalled that he had begun the transition from electoral politics in what “will likely be my last opportunity to contribute to a debate in the House”.

Indeed, if he had truly intended to wrest himself from the grip of tribal politics he chose a difficult time in which to do so.

In the heat of an election year, when the tribes know only three pronouns — me, myself, and I — they might even be suspicious of the slightest notion of nobility coming from the other side.

Phillips also has a distinguished career as a Jamaican public servant, working as the MP for Saint Andrew East Central since 1993. He was elected a vice president of the PNP in 1999, serving with Portia Simpson Miller. Dr. Phillips also served as Minister of Health under Prime Minister P.J. Patterson from 1995 to 1997. He has previously written and published on issues such as National and World identities and the Interstate System, the political economy of Jamaica's foreign relations, the World System, Westminster Politics in Jamaica, and Twentieth Century Social Movements in Jamaica.

Dr.

It is worth sustaining our sense of collective purpose in this House… This Parliament, which emerged after Universal Adult Suffrage was achieved in 1944, was the result of a common striving for rights on behalf of the Jamaican people.

“The final agreements regarding the structure and content of the Independence constitution were settled jointly… More to the point, the overarching lesson of our years as an independent nation is the fact that all our great accomplishments have been the result of collective endeavours.

“Nothing highlights this more than our efforts to reduce public debt and achieve sustained economic growth — [a task still not achieved],” he said.

Successive International Monetary Fund (IMF) programmes had entailed fiscal restraint, public sector wage restraint, and the general population endured a major tax burden, he stressed, pointing to other examples of collective efforts, among them, “perhaps the most salutary and inspiring example” of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica.

“The countless hours spent by political representatives in the early years… charting a path of electoral reform, gave rise to an understanding that neither party, when in office, could or should try to exercise ‘ownership’ over the body politic or nation.

In 1998, Patterson appointed him Minister of Transport and Works.

10 things about Dr Peter Phillips

1 Dr Peter Phillips was elected unopposed as president of the People’s National Party (PNP) on March 26, 2017, succeeding Portia Simpson Miller, who retired months after the PNP lost the 2016 general election.

2 A graduate of Jamaica College, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and a Master of Science degree in Government from The University of the West Indies.

He completed his doctoral studies in International Political Economy at The State University of New York at Binghamton.

3 He served the PNP as vice-president from 1999 to 2008.

4 He was general secretary between 1991 and 1994.

5 He was elected member of parliament for the constituency of St Andrew East Central in 1992, which he still represents in Parliament.

6 He was minister of finance and planning from 2012 to 2016.

7 He received the 2015 Gleaner Man of the Year award for exemplary public service.

8 He was minister of health between 1995 and 1997.

9 He worked as minister of special projects in the Office of the Prime Minister from 1991 to 1994.

10 He is married to Sandra Minott Phillips, with whom he shares two children.

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Phillips is the former president of the People's National Party and former leader of the Opposition in Jamaica.

He worked as a lecturer in Government and Politics at the Consortium Graduate School (UWI Mona). Rather, we were simply ‘stewards’ in a ‘joint tenancy arrangement’.

“The essence of nation-building,” Dr Phillips concluded, “is the creation of shared loyalties and trust in authority and political structures, but most of all a trust in each other… We may have different views about programmes and policies but, ultimately, the objectives ought to be the same.”

Let Dr Phillips join Messrs P J Patterson and Bruce Golding as treasured statesmen.