Daryl Vaz admits that the pull to public service was so strong in his formative years that he really had little choice but to walk in the footsteps of his now late father Douglas, who served as minister of industry and commerce from 1980 to 1989.

“I come from a family in which public service was regarded as a way of life. From the age of 13 I watched my father serve as a Member of Parliament (MP), and that experience had a profound influence on me,” Daryl Vaz told the Jamaica Observer last Friday, a day after he was announced as one of seven Jamaicans who have been made members of the Order of Jamaica (OJ) on this year’s national honours and awards list.

“I developed a genuine love for people and a passion for helping them overcome challenges and improve their lives. Politics was therefore never simply a career for me; it was a natural calling,” added Vaz, the current minister of energy, telecommunication and transport, and MP for Portland Western since 2007.