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 Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller was the first female prime minister of Jamaica and also holds the position of president of the opposition People’s National Party. She had been the Minister of Local Government and Sport since October 2002. She previously served as Minister of Labor, Welfare and Sports from 1989 to 1993, when she re-entered parliament for South West St. Andrew, the PNP having boycotted the elections called in 1983; she was first elected, for that constituency, in 1976. She was Minister of Labour and Welfare from 1993 to 1995, Minister of Labour, Social Security and Sports from 1995 to February 2000, and Minister of Tourism and Sports from February 2000 to October 2002. She was a Vice President of the PNP from 1978 to 2006. In appointing her first cabinet following her swearing-in, she also assumed the portfolio of defence minister. Simpson-Miller obtained her BA in public administration from the Union Institute and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the Union Institute.
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