Rudyard Spencer

Last updated

Rudyard "Ruddy" Spencer, CD (born 23 February 1944) is a Jamaican former politician. A member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Spencer was first appointed to the Senate of Jamaica in 1993. Spencer was also a member of parliament for South East Clarendon for 18 years. He won every election he contested until his retirement from politics in February 2020.

Contents

Early life

Spencer was born on 23 February 1944 in Grange Hill, Westmoreland, Jamaica. He was educated in Medgar Evers College, City University of New York, and graduated from Cornell University with a degree in industrial relations. [1]

Career

In 1993, Spencer was appointed to the Senate of Jamaica. From 1995 to 1997, he was the Leader of the Opposition Business in the Senate. [1] From 2002 to 2020, he was a member of parliament for South East Clarendon. [2] Spencer served as the Minister of Health in Jamaica from 2007 to 2012. [3] In 2016, he was appointed as Minister of Finance and the Public Service. Spencer also directed the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions and was a member of the Caribbean Congress of Labour. [1] In February 2020, Spencer announced his retirement from electoral politics. [4] Members of both the JLP and the PNP paid tribute to Spencer for his years of service. [5] While awaiting his appointment to the Jamaican embassy in Berlin, Germany, Spencer served as deputy chairman of the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (IDT). [6]

Recognition

In 1995, Spencer was awarded the Order of Distinction (Officer Class), and promoted to Commander Class in 2014 for "more than 20 years of distinguished service to parliament". [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's National Party</span> Jamaican centre-left political party

The People's National Party (PNP) is a social-democratic political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in the House of Representatives, as 96 of the 227 local government divisions. The party is democratic socialist by constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Bustamante</span> Jamaican politician and labour leader

Sir William Alexander Clarke Bustamante was a Jamaican politician and labour leader, who, in 1962, became the first prime minister of Jamaica.

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party (PNP). While its name might suggest that it is a social democratic party, the JLP is actually a conservative party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabinet of Jamaica</span> Executive organizations of Jamaica

The Cabinet of the Government of Jamaica is the ultimate decision-making body of the executive within the Westminster system of government in traditional constitutional theory. The Cabinet of Jamaica is the principal instrument of government policy. It consists of the Prime Minister, and a minimum of thirteen other Ministers of Government, who must be members of one of the two Houses of Parliament. Not more than four members of the Cabinet may be members of the Senate. The Minister of Finance must be an elected member of the House of Representatives. The Shadow Cabinet of Jamaica is seen as the alternative to the Cabinet of Jamaica, led by the Leader of the Opposition (Jamaica), and is charged with fairly criticizing and providing alternative policy to that proposed by the Government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Baugh</span> Jamaican politician and surgeon (1941–2019)

Kenneth Lee O'Neil Baugh, was a Jamaican politician and surgeon. A member of the Jamaica Labour Party, he served as Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, and Minister of Health.

Anthony Johnson was a Jamaican politician, diplomat, economist and university lecturer. He was a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) senator and JLP Member of Parliament, ambassador to the United States, and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Allan George Richard Byfield was a Jamaican school teacher and politician. He was a senator of the West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962, and president of the Senate of Jamaica from 1972 to 1980. In the late 1970s he was minister of education.

Pearnel Charles is a Jamaican politician with the Jamaica Labour Party who was the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Bunting</span> Jamaican politician

Peter Murcott Bunting, MP was the fifth National Security Minister of Jamaica and the Former Member of Parliament representing the constituency of Central Manchester. Bunting was the General Secretary of the People's National Party, a position which he has held from January 2008 to January 2014. In the 2020 People's National Party leadership election, Bunting was the lead contender in the polls before the PNP's stunning defeat in the 2020 Jamaican general election, in which he lost his Manchester Central seat in Jamaica's parliament.

Fenton Rudyard Ferguson is a Jamaican politician with the People's National Party. He began serving as Jamaica's Minister of labor and social security under Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller in 2012. He is a dental surgeon. Fenton Ferguson was the MP for Saint Thomas Eastern. His opponent in 2016 was Mr. Delano Seiveright. Ferguson was moved to labor and social security after he remarked that babies who died as a result of the Klebsiella outbreak in 2015 at Victoria Jubilee Hospital are “not babies in the real sense” during his tenure as Minister of Health when many premature babies died from that bacteria.

L. Michael Henry, C.D., M.P, is the Member of Parliament for Central Clarendon and is the longest serving Jamaican Parliamentarian with more than 30 unbroken years in the Jamaican Parliament.

Enid Maude Bennett, OJ, CD was a Jamaican politician, representing the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), who served as Member of Parliament for 30 continuous years until her retirement in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in the House of Representatives of Jamaica</span>

Jamaica is the first English-speaking country in the Caribbean to achieve universal adult suffrage and grant women the right to be elected to Parliament. Between 1944 and 2020, a total of 47 women have been elected as Members of the House of Representatives. As of September 2020 there are 18 women in the House of Representatives, the highest ever. This is a new all-time high at 29% and is the first time that female representation in the House of Representatives stands at more than a quarter of the total membership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Saint Andrew North Western by-election</span> Election result for Saint Andrew North Western, Jamaica

A by-election to the House of Representatives was held for the Saint Andrew North Western constituency on March 5, 2018. The seat was declared vacant after the resignation of Derrick Smith as member of Parliament effective January 15, 2018. The election was won by Nigel Clarke of the Jamaica Labour Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trelawny Northern</span> Jamaican parliamentary constituency

Trelawny Northern is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Representatives of the Jamaican Parliament. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. It was one of the 32 constituencies fixed in the new constitution granted to Jamaica in 1944. The constituency has featured in all 16 contested Parliamentary General Elections from 1944 to 2016. The current MP is Tova Hamilton, representing the Jamaica Labour Party, who has been in office since the 2020 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwin Allen</span> Jamaican politician

Edwin Leopold Allen was a Jamaican politician, representing the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). He served twice as minister of education (1953-1955) and (1962-1972). He was the first and longest-serving minister of education of independent Jamaica.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert</span> Jamaican politician

Marisa Colleen Dalrymple-Philibert is a Jamaican attorney-at-law and politician, representing the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). She is the 15th and current Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Derrick Flavius Leroy Kellier is a Jamaican businessman and politician, representing the People's National Party (PNP). He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Saint James Southern from 1989 to 2020. He served as Minister of Labour and Social Security from 2006 to 2007, and again from 2012 to 2015. Kellier also served concurrently as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries from 2014 to 2016.

Horace Washington Dalley is a Jamaican educator and politician, representing the People's National Party (PNP). He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Clarendon Northern, serving from 1989 to 2007, and again from 2011 to 2020. He served as Minister of Land and Environment from 2001 to 2002, Minister of Labour and Social Security from 2002 to 2006, Minister of Health from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2015 to 2016.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The Honourable Rudyard Spencer". The Ministry of National Security. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  2. ↑ "Ruddy Spencer calls it quits - Clarendon MP leaves representational politics". The Star. 5 February 2020.
  3. ↑ "Ministers and Ministries" (PDF). Jamaica Information Service. November 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  4. ↑ "'Ruddy' Spencer resigns from politics; intriguing by-election looms". Loop Jamaica. 5 February 2020.
  5. ↑ "House of Representatives Pays Tribute To Ruddy Spencer". Jamaica Information Service. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  6. ↑ "Rudyard Spencer joins IDT as deputy chair". Jamaica Observer. 10 March 2020.
Trade union offices
Preceded by President of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union
2004–2007		Succeeded by
Kavan Gayle
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.