Byron Buckley, News Editor
Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson at his Devon Road, St. Andrew office yesterday. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
APPROXIMATELY 1:45 p.m. yesterday, Prime Minister P.J. Patterson descended the stairs at his Devon Road Office in St. Andrew.
Staff members, who assembled a guard of honour in the lobby of the Cabinet Office building, broke out in the Bob Marley hit song One Love.
A smiling P.J. shook hands and received some hugs. He exited the building with the staff in train ... They stood on the step ... Mr. Patterson turned and waved to them ... He proceeded to the waiting car, paused, turned and waved again ... He then entered the car and sped off to his home in Norbrook to prepare himself for the official swearing-in of his successor Portia Simpson Miller at King's House later that day.
Minutes before the commencement of that function Mr. Patterson had delivered his letters of resignation as Prime Minister and Member of Parliament for the Eastern Westmoreland constituency to Governor-General Professor Kenneth Hall.
"I wish also to convey ... to the nation, my sense of privilege in serving our country for the last 14 years at the highest level and to express my confident expectation that our nation will enjoy peace, harmony, social justice and prosperity now and forever more. May the Almighty continue to pour his abundant blessing upon us all," Patterson said in one letter.
LAST-MINUTE REQUESTS
On his last day as Prime Minister, Mr. Patterson awoke at 6:30 a.m., and ate a Jamaican breakfast including porridge, fruit and coffee. Before arriving at his office at 10:15 a.m., he fielded an abnormally high number of telephone calls from persons making last-minute requests and appointments to see him after he had demitted office.
In office he received a number of courtesy calls, including from Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago; and Edwin Carrington, secretary general of CARICOM.
In a brief interview with The Gleaner/Power 106 News, Mr. Patterson disclosed that he would be lecturing occasionally, in addition to writing his memoirs. But, he noted, "I am not going to be engaged in any activity which requires me to undertake a continuous line of responsibility."
