Bogues defends Manley’s legacy as architect of social reform

WESTERN BUREAU:

Professor Anthony Bogues has dismissed claims by the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) that former Prime Minister Michael Manley “mash up Jamaica” with his policies in the 1970s. Instead, he praised the late People’s National Party (PNP) president as the architect of many social programmes from which Jamaicans continue to benefit today.

Speaking at the PNP’s Women’s Movement Gala last Saturday at the Hilton Rose Hall Resort in Montego Bay, St James, Bogues defended Manley’s legacy on the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Manley served as Jamaica’s prime minister from 1972 to 1980 and again from 1989 to 1992.

“Who mash up the country?” Bogues asked pointedly, before listing landmark achievements under Manley’s leadership:

• Establishing a minimum wage for domestic workers

• Changing the Masters and Servants laws

• Creating the National Housing Trust (NHT)

• Developing the Sugar Workers’ Cooperative Council

Bogues urged the predominantly PNP audience, which included party leader Mark Golding, to push back against what he described as “fake news becoming real news”. He emphasised that Manley’s reforms uplifted marginalised Jamaicans, particularly women and the working class.

A LEADER OF GLOBAL SIGNIFICANCE

Bogues placed Manley among a select group of 20th-century leaders of “profound world significance”, comparing him to Nelson Mandela, Fidel Castro, Julius Nyerere, and Kwame Nkrumah. He highlighted Manley’s advocacy for the New International Economic Order, which aimed to reduce economic inequality inherited from colonial rule.

“He wasn’t just trying to put Jamaica on the map,” Bogues asserted. “He was trying to put Black people on the map in a different way.”

In one of his most passionate moments, Bogues argued that Jamaica never truly underwent decolonisation – only constitutional independence. He credited the PNP, particularly Michael and Beverley Manley, with initiating the difficult work of dismantling colonial-era social structures, especially those oppressing women.

Beverley Manley Duncan, who was once married to Michael Manley, founded the PNP Women’s Movement, a group that championed women’s rights.

Reflecting on the exploitation of young rural girls who migrated to Kingston for domestic work, Bogues credited the PNP for standing up for them.

“In those helper’s quarters, sexual abuse took place … and women were treated horribly,” he said.

He noted that the introduction of minimum wage laws and social reforms under the PNP helped to dismantle that legacy.

“This is why some people were upset about Jamaica,” he continued. “Because the rule they had over ordinary poor people for hundreds of years was being challenged.”

MANLEY’S VISION FOR EQUALITY

Bogues concluded by underscoring Manley’s commitment to self-reliance, equality, and democracy – not just as policies but as pillars of human liberation.

“Politics at its highest is about creating a society that allows each individual to find him or herself and expand their capacity,” he said. “The role of the People’s National Party was to create that opportunity.”

Quoting Manley’s legendary 1976 ‘We Are Not for Sale’ speech, Bogues left the audience with a rallying call: “We are working towards the day when there will be no more masters and no more servants, but only together, one in the Lord … . In the name of every victim that ever lived, the name of every partner that ever died – we will not fail. We will overcome.”

During the event, special tribute was also paid to Beverley Manley Duncan for her pivotal role in the PNP Women’s Movement and her lifelong advocacy for women’s rights.

Bogues praised her leadership, describing her as a woman who helped Jamaica’s women “become somebody” in a society historically shaped by class, colour, and gender oppression.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com