Swearing-in of Orette Bruce Golding as Prime Minister of Jamaica at King's House on Tuesday, September 11.

Simpson Miller - photo by Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

The names sound like Roman emperors. On 9/11, both were on a stand above the rest of us.

Octavius was the grandnephew of Julius Caesar and ruled Rome autocratically - along with his friends Mark Anthony and Marcus Lepidus - having himself re-elected perpetually.

It was appropriate that the current Octavius (aka the G-G) should be the one to take Orette by the hand and in a flash of an eyelid make him into the new leader of Jamaica. Perhaps Octavius was thinking that this inauguration had broken the perpetual re-election of the PNP.

shortened season

There was a good flight of birds scurrying overhead. Orette shoots. The peadove, white-winged dove, baldpate and mourning dove were trying to attract Orette's attention in case he would further postpone the 2007 shooting season. He responded by shortening to three weeks the 2007 season.

Other emperors, now deposed but not dispatched, were down below.

The oldest, Phillip George, now 79 is the last living emperor to have entered public life before Independence. You never know whether Phillip George is going to push or pull down Orette. On this blue-skied afternoon with only the odd cumulus cloud looking down, Carla, his wife, looked after him she apparently had not been asked to make up a prayer for Orette like PG's beauty queen ex-wife.

Empress Lucretia looked spectacular, dressed in white. Orette was two, Phillip George 15, when Lucretia was born in the same parish in which Orette grew up.

other countries represented

Many countries sent emissaries to share Orette's grand moment. There were many small ones - Cuba, Barbados and Turks and Caicos. Only one big country - the former colonial master, England, sent a minister from afar to come and see Orette get going. Resident dignitaries from Canada and the United States of America were present, but no George Bush or Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Haitian-born Governor-General of Canada.

The Nation of Islam's delegation was recognised publicly by Orette. Current atlases do not yet show where this nation is geographically located. The people of Montego Bay, after all a recognised republic, were there in numbers, but not a mention was made of them. Unfair.

RJR had remembered to put a green cover on its microphone. Apart from this, only the diminutive, serious and youthful Chief Justice wore green on the platform. Orette was happy that the OJ sashes projected his party's colours. One could only guess that the CJ and her husband were on the platform because Lucretia and hubby were not available. Otherwise, this business of no seat for the Opposition Leader might just have reappeared.

all in white

The Chief of Staff, dressed all in coast-guard white, reminds one of Ernest Hemingway. The Right Rev. Dr. Robert Thompson, covered in purple from toes to skull cap, was perhaps wondering how the passage of time had reallocated the Bishop's Lodge into becoming King's House?

Octavius' choice of September 11 to crown Emperor Orette was controversial. Apart from the twin-towers catastrophe, a CIA-backed coup in Chile, headed by General Augusto Pinochet, toppled, on that day, the democratically elected President Salvador Allende.

In 1226, the Roman Catholic practice of perpetual adoration began on this day. Orette would, no doubt, like this practice to continue, but the electorate might wish otherwise.

The election of September 3 fell on the same day as the outbreak of World War II when France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declared war on Germany.

Orette made a good speech. He took over Lucretia's religious protestations in a big way - he offered to hold Lucretia's hand to pull all the people together; he wanted to become a chief servant; the singing group loudly rendered My Redeemer Liveth, just after Octavius enthroned Orette.

Undertones were everywhere. Phillip George threw out Fidel's troops and sent a mighty army to dispose of the Emperor Bishop; Percival Noel made Jean-Bertrand a native Jamaican until he took off to Mandela land. What new excitements can our neighbours expect from Orette?