Wykeham McNeill

Early life and education

Born in 1957 in the parish of Kingston, Jamaica, McNeill is the youngest son born to former Minister of Health Kenneth McNeill and his wife Valerie.

McNeill is a physician by profession having graduated from Medical school at The University of Havana, Cuba 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. 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 1994–1997 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 1995-2000. 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 and in 1996, traveled as a member of the medical team to the Olympic Games in Athens.

Political career

His constituency is the Western Westmoreland Parish. He was first elected in 1997 and then re-elected in 2002, being the first Member of Parliament in the history of this constituency to do so.

In 2000 he was appointed Minister of State 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 was appointed Prime Minister, McNeill was again appointed the Minister of State and continued in the post until the party faced by the Jamaica Labour Party in 2007. He was then appointed the Spokesman 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 People's National Party 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 People's National Party. McNeill's constituency won all 5 divisions.

Elections

The 2011 general election was called by former Prime Minister Andrew Holness on 29 December 2011. McNeill won his seat of Western Westmoreland in what was considered to be a landslide victory for himself while his party, the People's National Party also garnered a landslide victory winning 42 of the 63 Parliamentary seats. On 6 January 2012 he was appointed the Minister of Tourism in the new People's National Party 2012 Government. As McNeill assumes the position as Minister of Tourism and Entertainment in Jamaica the island is experiencing growth in the sector. He has begun discussions with senior officials in the Ministry of Tourism and several of its key agencies to prepare for future initiatives under the new government. According to McNeill, the merging of tourism and entertainment will be beneficial for both divisions. He also says he is very committed to promoting tourists to spend more while they visit Jamaica to help develop to sector and the country on a whole.

On February 25th 2016 the general elections were once again called with the ruling People's National Party expected to retain state power, however, the Jamaica Labour Party won the elections with a one-seat majority.

Family life

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