Jamaica to declare Marley home a national monument

KINGSTON, Jamaica (Reuters) – The Jamaican government will
declare Bob Marley’s Kingston home a national monument, 25
years after the reggae legend’s death, an official said on
Tuesday.

Minister of Education and Culture Maxine Henry Wilson said
the tribute was in recognition of all Marley had done to
promote his Caribbean homeland overseas.

Marley, who died of cancer in the United States in 1981,
would have turned 61 this week.

Known as Tuff Gong International, Marley’s home is now a
music studio as well as a leading tourist attraction.

Marley, who remains one of the most recognizable stars of
pop music, was given Jamaica’s third-highest national honor,
the Order of Merit, shortly before his death. But government
officials have repeatedly shied away from calls to name him a
national hero.

As a devout Rastafarian, and someone who used marijuana as
part of his religious beliefs, Marley ran a long-running
crusade for the legalization of the herb known locally as
ganja.

No official date has been set yet for the ceremony in which
Tuff Gong, which translates loosely from Jamaican slang to
tough sound, will be designated a national monument.