Bustamante, Golding and Lady Bustamante

BRUCE GOLDING might have been yet another Jamaican who dreamt about entry into representational politics.

The seed of aspiration was planted in him in his early 20s, and just when the opportunity came around for the seed to germinate, it appeared that it was going to be dug up and thrown on rocks.

But there was one Gladys Bustamante, who, with her charm and the special place she had in Sir Alexander Bustamante's heart, paved the way for Golding's political journey.

Sir Alexander was the founder of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and although he had handed over the reins of government to Donald Sangster, he remained the party's chief and wielded significant power and influence when Golding came knocking.

Speaking in Parliament recently, Prime Minister Golding said that had it not been for Lady Bustamante's intervention, he might not have been prime minister today.

"Bustamante exerted tremendous influence over other people, but I believe it is true to say that Lady Bustamante was the only person who could exercise influence over Sir Alexander," Golding told Parliament.

The prime minister, who was giving a tribute to the life of Lady Bustamante, who will be buried at the National Heroes' Park today, spoke of the role she played in his entry to politics, and hailed her as a pioneer for the workers and the political movement in Jamaica.

"In 1969, when my father (Tacius Golding) announced that he was going to retire from politics and I expressed an interest in that constituency, there were 11 aspirants for that seat, including one Cabinet minister, one parliamentary secretary and the mayor of Spanish Town.

"I thought that it would be advantageous for me to get some nod of approval from the Chief. I wound my way all the way up to Irish Town (St Andrew where the Bustamantes lived) to go and see the Chief.

"I sat down and I explained to him that I wanted to enter politics and I wanted to run as the candidate for what was then Western St Catherine.

"He said to me, 'Your father is a good man but I hear that yuh mix up wid the blasted communists dem up at the university'," Golding recalled in Parliament.

He added: "For one moment, I had images of shattered dreams staring at me and I didn't know what to say. But Lady B squeezed me on the hand and she said: 'Don't worry, son, I will have a word with him'.

"But for her intervention, the entire course of my life would perhaps have changed," Golding said.

Golding eventually got the nod to be the Jamaica Labour Party's standard-bearer in Western St Catherine. He defeated the People's National Party's Prince Golding to win the 1972 election - a victory which laid the platform for his eventual journey to the Office of the Prime Minister, to which he was elected in 2007.

Lady Bustamante did not get the chance to fully enjoy Golding's victory as she fell ill and was kept from the public's glare. She died on July 25.

Her funeral will be held at the Sts Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church, Old Hope Road, at noon today.