- FileDr. Mavis Gilmour...now living in Florida.
Barbara Ellington, Features Co-ordinator
AT AGE 75, the former surgeon/politician, Dr. Mavis Gilmour, still maintains a trim elegant figure and speaks with candour about issues that concern her. Not one to dodge sticky topics, the St. Elizabethan's candour is refreshing in a country where persons are afraid to speak for fear of reprisal. On Dr. Gilmour's recent visit to Jamaica from her home in Florida, The Sunday Gleaner's Barbara Ellington spoke with the former Education Minister about her career in politics, her life in Germany, and what she thinks Jamaica needs at this critical juncture.
B.E.: When did you enter politics and how long did your political career last?
M.G.: I entered politics in 1972 and worked as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Health till 1974. I resigned in 1973 but went to the opposing party in 1975 because I was upset with my party's declaration that they were going hand in hand with Castro. The most important thing to me is my Christian base and Christianity and that philosophy do not blend. I went to speak with then Opposition Leader, Edward Seaga, and asked him what he thought he could do for Jamaica and why. It was not an easy interview; I was coming from a party that condemned him but by the end I was impressed with his commitment to people-building, his confidence in the ability of Jamaicans, his conviction that they are trainable and that we can become a great nation. I decided that someone with my shared faith in the people of Jamaica was someone to work with and I remained with the party till I retired in 1989.
B.E.: You are the first female qualified surgeon in the Caribbean and have been described by your peers as having one of the safest pair of hands ever seen on a surgeon; how long did you work at the Kingston Public Hospital (KPH), how would you compare what it was then to what it is now?
M.G.: It's not the same. I worked there from 1951 to 1976; I was also the first female consultant surgeon in Kingston and I loved every minute I spent at the KPH, from early morning to late at night. Back then, the reward of our life was that if we did an operation on a patient from Trench Town, we knew that no one at Nuttall got better care. It was a magnificent team.
B.E.: Tell me about your JLP years.
M.G.: I represented West Rural St. Andrew and I never lost an election.
B.E.: How did that make you feel?
M.G.: Humble. It was hard work, but I also never failed an exam in my life, not even a mid-term. I took six years to complete med school when everyone took eight and I spent 11 months at the Royal College of Surgeons at Edinburgh, Scotland, when the average person took two years. When I do something I'm dedicated, I have a singleness of purpose, it doesn't mean I'm specially gifted or have more brains, I'm disciplined and dedicated.
When we won the 1980 elections, the only Cabinet post really exciting to me was education. I believe the role of a new nation is to build people. No country has attained civilisation and competence without education, why do we think we can do it? In Germany, every child has to be in school till age 18. Education makes you able to take care of yourself; our people are particularly brilliant and if we spent the time to develop and train them, we wouldn't be in this economic and social crisis.
B.E.: But what were some of the programmes that you instituted during your tenure as education minister?
M.G.: I tried to have us develop our natural musical talent by ensuring that every primary school had recorders and a piano and that primary school teachers were trained to teach music. I also wanted to see 50 new primary schools built but that did not happen. School buildings were changed so that each teacher had a classroom, each child had his own desk and chair, there were uniforms and a school text book programme. I also implemented the nutri bun and milk feeding programme something I copied from the Phillipines.
I also recommended that teachers who had been trained under the two plus one system, return to college for six months to upgrade their abilities but that did not materialise. If I had got the 50 new primary schools with all the necessary facilities and the teacher retraining, I would have felt my life as a minister was worth it.
B.E.: There are still criticisms for your decision to close the Jamaica School of Agriculture (JSA), why did you do it?
M.G.: JSA had deteriorated in academic performance, the physical structure was poorly maintained; there was no sign of an agricultural pursuit nothing to show its purpose. I asked for a review through a grant from the United States Congress. Two universities sent officers down (the reports are available at the Ministry for review), and their reports showed that the school had no curriculum and no teaching discipline evident.
Secondly, there was no land around the school to develop an agricultural teaching programme; the land had been taken over for the José Marti Secondary School. And the third reason is that the area was being completely urbanised between Kingston and Spanish Town. It would be possible to have agricultural tertiary expansion at Passley Gardens in Portland; it was ideally suited with arable land, some hillside, some coastal content and we could develop an excellent agricultural programme there.
We were fortunate to get USAID funds for training and a number of grants to build dormitories, a library, and I have no doubt that they will continue to develop an excellent college there.
B.E.: And what of the allegations of it being a purely political decision to close it?
M.G.: I have never made a decision to affect the people of my country on a political basis, it is always what is best for my people.
B.E.: Talk of general elections is in the air and the JLP is hoping to be victorious when they are held. Should they win, what do they have to do to take the country out of the crisis currently facing the country?
M.G.: The first thing is psychological. They must get a nation that respects authority, law and order and discipline. There is at present very little of the above in this country; it's a totally free-for-all situation. Without discipline, people become uncontrollable, the animal instincts take over, so this psychological atmosphere of respect for law and order and discipline and self-worth has to be achieved to make human progress. Next, they need better economic policies. Identify areas of productivity and concentrate on a few rather than dissipate energies on many. We have to stop being a sample society in our production areas.
B.E.: Were your reasons for leaving Jamaica only personal or were there also political considerations?
M.G.: I did not leave for political reasons. I was very physically exhausted in 1989 with the post-Gilbert rehabilitation and the elections which followed. I decided I needed to rest. The coincidental but fortuitous opportunity arose for me to start a new social life in Germany and I went.
B.E.: Do you love Germany?
M.G.: I love many things about it but I don't like the cold. Two words characterise the people industrious and disciplined; it's a country where everyone works.
B.E.: Why have you chosen to retire in Florida and not Jamaica?
M.G.: My husband was dissatisfied with the level of violence here. He's coming from a place where in the 11 years that I lived there, I never read in the papers or heard on the news a report of anyone being murdered. There are major bank robberies, train and car wrecks but no murders. This society is fearful, on edge - even driving on the roads is constantly irritating. I love my country, my life-long friends are still here but the atmosphere is not safe.
B.E.: Was it difficult to adjust to a new society?
M.G.: It wasn't easy to adjust to a new society and way of life but when you make a commitment (marriage), you don't undo them irresponsibly. The decision to live in Florida was also to be in the sunlight which I now need for health reasons, it was a toss-up between there and here.
B.E.: You have no children, was this by choice?
M.G.: I have often been asked that question and whether I wouldn't feel more feminine having a child. My answer is that I am confident enough with my femininity without proving it with motherhood. I was very taken up with medicine and couldn't share my time between infant care which needs time and attention and medicine. I was not prepared to take the time away from the hospital, that came first, it was the joy of my life.
B.E.: During your time in politics there were not many women in it; there are more now but the numbers are still low. Would you encourage women to enter politics?
M.G.: Women have a role to play in politics. Two things make them good contributors - that indefinable thing called intuition and a greater percentage of women work hard and are blessed with a clarity of vision. It is demanding and unrewarding but these are not unfamiliar to women. Jamaica has had people like Beth Jacobs, Iris Collins, Aggie Bernard and Rose Leon and we were always a matriarchal society. The Jamaican woman is almost by inheritance a leader and decision-maker.
B.E.: The Leader of the Opposition has come in for harsh criticism for his leadership style, how would you describe him?
M.G.: His productivity, creativity, and dedication to Jamaica outweigh the obvious and much talked-about disadvantages of his leadership style.
