JLP, BITU celebrate in church
The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) will today celebrate their 70th and 75th anniversaries, respectively, with a service at the Church of the Open Bible in Lionel Town, Clarendon.
Under the theme 'Continuing the Fight for Equal Rights and Justice', the service will feature presentations by JLP leader and former Prime Minister Andrew Holness; president of the BITU Kavan Gayle; JLP General Secretary Dr Horace Chang and the party's Deputy Leader Audley Shaw, among others.
The service will see members of the hierarchy and supporters of the JLP and the BITU coming together to worship, and represents the beginning of the yearlong observation of the JLP's 70th anniversary.
The events continue tomorrow at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel with a lecture by former prime minister and JLP leader Edward Seaga.
JLP officials yesterday said the decision to stage the church service in Lionel Town was taken as a mark of respect for the party's first leader, Sir Alexander Bustamante, who represented that section of South Clarendon from 1949 to 1967.
In 1976, the boundaries were changed with the constituency being called South East Clarendon, represented by former Prime Minister Hugh Shearer, who won in 1967 and 1972 and held the seat until March 1993.
The seat is now represented by the JLP's Rudyard Spencer.