FORMER Prime Minister Edward Seaga, who celebrated his 85th birthday yesterday, will be special guest at the official premiere of a documentary on his life produced by the Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC).
The documentary, financed by the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund, is titled Edward Seaga: From Rebel to Leader, and the premiere will take place at King’s House at 6:00 pm.
Seaga became prime minister following the general election of October 30, 1980, when the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) won a landslide victory over the incumbent People’s National Party.
The mandate of Seaga and the JLP was renewed in the uncontested 1983 General Election and he continued as prime minister until February 1989.
One of the founding fathers in the framing of the Jamaican Constitution in 1961, Seaga spearheaded far-reaching constitutional reforms since then. He initiated a rewrite of the human rights section of the constitution to provide for a Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms; creation of the Office of Public Defender; and curtailment of some of the powers of the prime minister to provide a better balance of power between the executive and the Parliament in the Jamaican system of governance.
The CHASE Fund, incorporated in November 2002, began its operations in January 2003. It was registered under the Companies Act to receive, distribute, administer, and manage the monetary contributions from the lottery companies pursuant to Section 59G of the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Act, in connection with: sports development; early childhood education; health; arts and culture.
The approach had as its precedent the establishment of the Sports Development Foundation to receive a percentage of the proceeds earned by the first licence permitted to conduct a lottery, the Jamaica Lottery Company.
Don’t call this a documentary if the contents won’t be based on empirical and objective facts. I am very curious to see this documentary…