Senators Pay Tribute to Ambassador Anthony Johnson

Members of the Senate today (May 7) paid tribute to the late Ambassador, Hon. Anthony Johnson, who died on April 28 at the age of 82.

Ambassador Johnson was a former Jamaica Labour Party Member of Parliament, Senator, diplomat, economist, lecturer and Ambassador to the United States.

He was also High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, non-resident Ambassador to the Republic of Finland, the Kingdoms of Sweden, Norway and Denmark and Ireland, and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS).

Leading the tributes, President of the Senate, Tom Tavares-Finson, described Ambassador Johnson as an outstanding individual, who excelled in the many interests he pursued.

“Ambassador Johnson was a parliamentarian for almost three decades. He began and ended his parliamentary life as a member of the Senate. In fact, 17 of the 27 years he spent at Parliament, he spent as a Senator. He also served for two terms in the House of Representatives as the Member of Parliament for the constituency of St. Catherine North East,” he noted.

“I count myself as fortunate, having served in the Senate with Ambassador Johnson. He took an interest in the welfare of others and was always warm and engaging. We shared an interest in history and he was the repository of wide knowledge in a vast area of interest as it relates to Jamaican history, and in particular the history of Kingston,” the President added.

He pointed out that Ambassador Johnson’s contributions to the Senate debates were legendary.

“His interventions were timely and well researched and delivered with panache which was his signature. We will miss Ambassador Johnson and we extend condolences to his widow and other members of his immediate family, wider family and, of course, his many political friends and associates,” he said.

For his part, Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate, Peter Bunting, said Ambassador Johnson was widely respected on both sides of the aisle and by Jamaicans generally for his national contribution and his affable personality.

“He was Jamaica’s first council member of the parliamentarians for global action and he in his own family started the tradition of those families who have contributed through multiple generations to representational politics in Jamaica,” he said.

Government Senator, Sherene Golding Campbell, said Ambassador Johnson was a man of outstanding character whose integrity has never been and could never be questioned.

“What struck me most in talking to persons who knew him well and worked with him over the years was how he related to ordinary people and how he made their concerns and interests his own. The plight of a single mother struggling to feed her children and send them to school was as important to him as a major World Bank project which he was assigned to oversee,” she said.

“For him, improving the lives of people, empowering them to be able to help themselves was the ultimate purpose and objective of everything else, including the World Bank project. He was someone who interacted with people in a natural way and, perhaps, he bestowed those traits on his daughter and our colleague, the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith,” she said.

Senator Golding Campbell said he has left a huge legacy of selfless service to the people of Jamaica that is being carried on by his daughter “in whom I know he had immense pride”.

Opposition Senator, Dr. Floyd Morris, said Ambassador Johnson served his country with distinction. “I am deeply saddened at the passing of this outstanding Jamaican, one who has given selfless service to the country… we are very heartened that the country recognised his contribution to national development before his passing,” he said.

Expressing sincere gratitude for the tributes, his daughter and Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith, who is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, said her father loved his country and had a desire to serve.

“He lived by example. He has set a good example for us… and I think subconsciously embedded in all of us is the same love of Jamaica, the same desire to serve in one way or another… there is just an understanding of contribution that should be greater than self. He and Mommy worked hard to create a supportive home for all of us and to provide a good example as to how best to live a life of service beyond self,” she said.

Senators Delroy Williams, Damion Crawford, Donna Scott Mottley, Natalie Campbell-Rodriques, Don Wehby, Kavan Gayle and Sapphire Longmore also offered tributes.

Present during the sitting were members of Ambassador Johnson’s family, including his wife, Pamela, and children.

Members of the Senate also observed a moment of silence in honour of Ambassador Johnson, who was awarded the Order of Jamaica for his service to the nation in 2016.

Ambassador Johnson began his Parliamentary career in 1980 as a Senator and over the next 27 years served the people of Jamaica in both Houses of Parliament.

During his political career he served as Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce; Minister of State in the Ministry of Agriculture, and Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate.