Last minute plans for new GG’s installation
Published:Thursday | February 26, 2009 | 12:59 PM
Last-minute preparations are now being undertaken at King’s House for this afternoon’s swearing in ceremony for Jamaica’s sixth Governor General.
Former president of the West Indies Union Conference of Seventh Day Adventist, Dr Patrick Allen is to be sworn in at a ceremony slated to start at 5.30 p.m.
Several Heads of State from the Eastern Caribbean are among the dignitaries expected to attend.
The Governor General of St. Kitts and Nevis, Sir Cuthbert Sebastian, the President of Dominica, Dr. Nicholas Liverpool as well as the President of Trinidad and Tobago Professor George Maxwell Richards are among those expected to be in attendance.
The function will begin with the reading of the Royal Commission appointing Dr. Allen as Head of State, by the Governor General\'s Secretary, Rose-Marie Gibbs.
Dr. Allen will then take the Oath/Solemn Declaration and Affirmation of Allegiance, and Office.
Retiring Head of State, Governor General, Professor Sir. Kenneth Hall presents his successor with the Royal Commission, after which the outgoing Governor General\'s Standard will be lowered and that of the incoming GG raised, accompanied by a fanfare of trumpets.
The new Governor General will then be invested with the Insignia of the Order of the Nation by Chief Justice Zaila McCalla.
Sir Kenneth and Prime Minister Golding are then slated to address the ceremony, after which Dr. Allen will deliver his inaugural address.
Dr. Allen who is 58 will succeed Sir. Kenneth, who is demitting office due to ill health, after serving for three years.
Dr. Allen’s appointment sparked much debate due to his affiliation with the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
He stepped down from his position as president of the West Indies Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists on January 28 in order to fully take up his new role as Governor General.
Dr. Allen is the second member of the Seventh Day Adventist denomination to be appointed a Governor General in the Caribbean.
The second is Sir James Carlisle, who served as the Governor-General of Antigua and Barbuda from 1993 to 2007.
For live viewing of the swearing in ceremony, you may tune in to The Gleaner’s website at www.go-jamaica.com.