Internationally-respected Statesman, Sir Shridath Ramphal, on Monday, hailed the contribution of former Barbados Prime Minister, Owen Arthur to his country and wider Caribbean, saying that the Region is now poorer after his passing.
Arthur died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital at 12:26 a.m. on Monday. He was hospitalised last week with heart complication.
He was 70 at the time of his passing.
“Barbados has lost a great son. CARICOM has lost a great West Indian. We are all the poorer for Owen’s going,” Ramphal said, according to media reports out of Barbados.
“His last leadership role was to chair the Commonwealth’s Observer Mission to the Guyana elections where he distinguished himself for his courage in speaking truth to power. May his memory be honoured in the upholding of his candour.
“And may CARICOM for all time be guided by his credo of regional integration that marked his service to Barbados and the Caribbean Community entire,” Ramphal, a former Secretary General of The Commonwealth, said in a brief tribute.
