Kenneth Wykeham McNeill, MD, MP, CD (born October 1957 in Kingston, St. Andrew Parish) is a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n politician, former

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Westmoreland West, Jamaica. He is a former

government minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, � ...

. He was the

Minister of Tourism The Minister of Tourism is the head of the governmental department that specializes in tourism, recreation and/or culture. The position exists in many different countries under several names: *Ministry of Tourism and Environment (Albania) * Minist ...

of Jamaica from 2012 to 2016. He was elected the first vice chair of the Executive Council of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

World Tourism Organization The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the United Nations specialized agency entrusted with the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. Its headquarters are in Madrid, Spain. UNWTO is the leading internati ...

representing

in 2012 and elected chairman of the Executive council for the 2014-2015 period. McNeill was elected a

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

of The

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) is a Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Jamaica, political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in ...

at the Party's annual conference in September 2016.

Early life and education

Born in 1957 in the parish of Kingston, Jamaica, McNeill is the youngest son born to former

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental health. Coun ...

Kenneth McNeill Kenneth McNeill, Doctor of Medicine, MD, Member of parliament, MP (1918 – 2001), was a Jamaican political figure and a renowned surgeon. He died at the age of 83 in Jamaica. He is the father of five children including present politician Wykeham ...

and his wife Valerie. McNeill is a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

by profession, having graduated from Medical school at The

University of Havana The University of Havana or (UH, ''Universidad de La Habana'') is a university located in the Vedado district of Havana, the capital of the Republic of Cuba. Founded on January 5, 1728, the university is the oldest in Cuba, and one of the first ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

in 1983. He has served in various hospitals in Jamaica including St. Anns Bay, Spanish Town, Kingston Public Hospitals and the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

. He later went on to private practice at the Eureka Medical Center. An avid lover of sports, McNeill served as a member of the Boxing Board of Control from 1994 to 1997 and chaired the Amateur Development and the Medical Committees of the board. He is also the founding Chairman of the Sports Development Foundation (SDF), which he headed from 1995 to 2000. He is also a co-founder of the Clinic of Sports Medicine and Physical Therapy. He has worked with a number of national teams including the

Reggae Boyz The Jamaica national football team, nicknamed the "Reggae Boyz", represents Jamaica in international football. The team's first match was against Haiti in 1925. The squad is under the supervising body of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), ...

and in 1996, traveled as a member of the medical team to the Olympic Games in Athens.

Political career

His

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

is the Western Westmoreland Parish. He was first elected in 1997 and then re-elected in 2002, being the first Member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in the history of this constituency to do so. In 2000 he was appointed

Minister of State Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...

in the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, and was reappointed again in 2002 with responsibility to directly oversee tourism operations, including cruise shipping and tourism development. In 2007 when

Portia Simpson-Miller Portia Lucretia Simpson-Miller (born 12 December 1945) is a Jamaican politician. She served as Prime Minister of Jamaica from March 2006 to September 2007 and again from 5 January 2012 to 3 March 2016. She was the leader of the People's Nationa ...

was appointed Prime Minister, McNeill was again appointed the

and continued in the post until the party faced by the

Jamaica Labour Party The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is one of the two major political parties in Jamaica, the other being the People's National Party (PNP). While its name might suggest that it is a social democratic party (as is the case for "Labour" parties in seve ...

(JLP) in 2007. McNeill was then appointed the

Spokesman A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman, is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

of the Tourism Sector in Jamaica being part of the shadow Cabinet while in opposition. McNeill is also the former Chairman of The Public Administration and Appropriations Committee He was former chairman of region 6 for the

(PNP) but later resigned from the post in his bid to seek Vice Presidency of the party. He has held the constituency of Western Westmoreland, Jamaica since his first bid for Parliament. In the 2012 Local government election the parish of Westmoreland won all 14 parish councils for the PNP. McNeill's constituency won all 5 divisions.

Elections

The 2011 general election was called by former Prime Minister

Andrew Holness Andrew Michael Holness, (born 22 July 1972) is a Jamaican politician who has been the Prime Minister of Jamaica since 3 March 2016, following the 2016 Jamaican general election. Holness previously served as prime minister from October 2011 to ...

on 29 December 2011. McNeill won his seat of Western Westmoreland in what was considered to be a

landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geol ...

for himself while his party, the PNP also garnered a

winning 42 of the 63 Parliamentary seats. On 6 January 2012 he was appointed the Minister of Tourism in the new PNP 2012 Government. As McNeill assumed the position as Minister of Tourism and Entertainment in Jamaica the island was experiencing growth in the sector. He began discussions with senior officials in the Ministry of Tourism and several of its key agencies to prepare for future initiatives under the new government. On 25 February 2016 the general elections were once again called with the ruling

expected to retain state power. However, the JLP won the elections with a one-seat majority. On 3 September 2020 parliamentary elections, McNeil lost his seat to JLP newcomer and Business Development Specialist,

Morland Wilson Morland Wilson is a Jamaican politician from the Labour Party. He has served as Member of Parliament for Westmoreland Western since being elected in the 2020 Jamaican general election Life and career Wilson was the son of a soldier/farmer and a ...

in one of the most shocking losses in the PNP camp. The JLP retained state power with a massive 49 seats of the 63 seats in the Lower House.

Family life

McNeill is married to Sheila Benjamin McNeill and has two children, his son Jordan McNeill and stepdaughter Ashleigh Fernandez.

References

External links

Profile of McNeillPNP ArticleTourism Minister
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McNeill, Wykeham 1957 births Living people Members of the House of Representatives of Jamaica Government ministers of Jamaica Tourism ministers of Jamaica People's National Party (Jamaica) politicians Politicians from Kingston, Jamaica