Hartley Neita
IN THE time, long ago, when I was a chain smoker, I ran out of cigarettes when I reached Manchioneal while travelling from Kingston to Port Antonio in Portland via St. Thomas.
I stopped at a bar. There were about ten men inside drinking and arguing about a cricket match between the West Indies and England. I joined the discussion. I also joined the camaraderie by having two drinks, one of which I paid for in a round. It was fun. West Indies was winning.
As I left the bar, I saw a sign on the other side of the road which said it was the Ken Jones Highway. I thought I would poke a bit of fun with my new friends, so I re-entered the bar.
"Tell me something," I said. "There is a sign outside which says this road is the 'Ken Jones Highway'. Who is Ken Jones?"
CLUELESS
None of them knew. Except the barmaid. And she was not too sure.
"Them have some Jones living up the road on a property. Him must be one of them," she said.
Now, I knew who Ken Jones was. I had travelled from Kingston as a member of the staff of the Jamaica Information Service to his funeral some years before. He was the Member of Parliament for the area, was appointed
a minister of
government in 1962 and died, tragically, about two years after. A very charming man.
To immortalise his memory, the road, as well as the nearby aerodrome, was named for him. Now twenty years later, these men who were all from the area did not know who he was.
DONALD SANGSTER BUILDING
The same euphoria was exhibited when Sir Donald Sangster died. The Income Tax Building on East Street was given his name. So, too was the Montego Bay International Airport, and a not yet built library at the time in the last constituency he represented.
We have this habit of rewarding politicians by giving their names to schools, town squares, bridges and other public places. So, in Kingston and St. Andrew there are a number of insignificant bridges over gullies and dry river beds named after councillors whose names and work are unknown to the present Jamaicans.
There is a Michael Manley market in eastern Kingston, which is a shabby reminder of this former Prime Minister. A road nearby was also named for Governor-General Sir Florizel Glasspole sometime ago and his name, which was painted on the sign, was misspelt. Interestingly, there is a road named the Howard Cooke Highway in Montego Bay, but which memorialised him as a Member of Parliament. Not as Governor-General! And, then there is no public memorial to Sir Clifford Campbell. There just does not seem to be any consistency when we are paying these tributes.
Many years ago, Norman Manley drew to the attention of the KSAC that when streets and roads are re-named, residents and businesses find they have to change the title of their holdings to reflect the name-change and also print new stationery with the new address.
Residents of Allman Town once petitioned the KSAC to change the name of their district to Queen's Town in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth who had just visited Jamaica. And, because she drove through Hope Gardens on that visit, the name of this botanical beauty spot was officially renamed The Royal Botanical Gardens in honour of her recently deceased father.
For centuries, the main park in the Corporate Area was known as Kingston Race Course. Then in a fit of royal exuberance it was renamed the George VI Memorial Park, because Her Majesty planted a tree there. Subsequently it was named National Heroes Park. Consequently, the roads which circle it and previously named North, South, East and West Race Course, were renamed National Heroes Circle.
MORE CONFUSION
Our leaders subsequently created more confusion when the victims of the Eventide fire were interred there, and also Ken Hill, trade unionist; Mallica 'Kapo' Reynolds, painter and sculptor; Ranny Williams, actor; Agnes 'Aggie Bernard' McLaughlin, who fed the workers during the 1938 Kingston waterfront strike; and Dennis Brown, reggae singer. These are
precedents on which relatives and
supporters of others in their field can use to rightly demand to be interred in this national cemetery.
With all this confetti of names all over Jamaica, I sincerely hope that children attending the schools, which have been named for politicians, know who they were and what they did to deserve their immortality.
