Jamaica’s prime minister has announced the death of Edward Seaga, a former Jamaican leader who shaped the island’s post-independence politics and cultural life. Seaga was 89.

Seaga was Jamaica’s No. 1 official from 1980 until 1989 and the only remaining member of the generation of leaders who drafted the constitution when the Caribbean island gained independence from Britain in 1962.

Seaga’s death was announced on Twitter by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.