Prime Minister Makes Jamaican History

Portia Simpson Miller, who becomes Jamaica's first female prime minister on Thursday, says Jamaicans should focus on their country's problems and not her gender.

Known as "Sista P," Simpson Miller says tackling the high crime rate must be the nation's top priority. Last year, a record 1,671 homicides occurred on this Caribbean island of 2.6 million.

"We have to mobilize every sector of the society against this encroaching evil and wickedness," Simpson Miller, who on Thursday succeeds Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, said earlier this month at a funeral for six slain family members.

A longtime member of parliament who represented some of Jamaica's poorest neighborhoods, Simpson Miller beat three opponents to take over leadership of the ruling People's National Party from Patterson, who led Jamaica for the past 14 years.

Patterson's administration was dogged by scandals and allegations of corruption while the economy lagged and the crime rate soared. Rupert Lewis, a political science professor at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, said Jamaicans expect to see things change under Simpson Miller.

"Because she's a woman from the grass roots, the expectation is higher and it's going to be tough," Lewis said.

Some of Simpson Miller's supporters have urged people not to have overly high expectations, at least not in the early stages of her term.

"People think that come Monday morning they'll have a job and good schools and everything will be all right," said Joan Browne, spokeswoman of the Jamaica Women's Political Caucus. "These expectations are really dangerous because there's no way she can do all that."

Organizers expected some 6,000 guests at the swearing in on the lawns of King's House, including Prime Minister Owen Arthur of Barbados, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and a delegation from the U.S. Congress led by Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of New York.

Born in the rural parish of St. Catherine, Simpson Miller, 60, became a long-serving member of parliament. She represented South East St. Andrew Parish, one of Jamaica's crime-ridden slums that she says can be transformed with better schools and more economic opportunity.

Simpson Miller has pledged to work with the opposition, though leaders of the Jamaica Labor Party say she so far has offered nothing new for the country.

"It's just the same car with a different driver," said Karl Samuda, general secretary of the Jamaica Labor Party.

Simpson Miller's supporters say they hope that her becoming the first female prime minister will inspire others in a country where about 12 percent of political posts are held by women.

"The fact that she is a woman does have a symbolic and motivating effect for other women to get involved in politics," Browne said. "Already it has galvanized women who never thought they would enter politics."