TRINIDAD’s Olympic gold medallist in javelin Keshorn Walcott, 19, will today be awarded the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, becoming the youngest person in this country’s history to receive the nation’s highest award.

And while the country, in this way, acknowledges the achievements of its youth, it also looks back to the legacy left by politicians past in the posthumus award of the Order to former Prime Minister George Chambers and former labour leader Adrian Cola Rienzi.

Also announced as recipients of National Awards this year are Trinidad and Tobago’s bronze medallists at the Olympics: Lalonde Gordon; Marc Burns; Keston Bledman; Emmanuel Callender; Richard Thompson; Ade Alleyne-Forte; Jarrin Solomon and Deon Lendore. All receive the Humming Bird Medal (Gold).

The Olympians were feted yesterday in a parade which was due to end at Woodford Square, Port-of-Spain.

Commenting on the award of the Order to Walcott, Brian Lewis, Secretary General of the TT Olympic Committee said, “Winning an Olympic gold medal is the pinnacle of an athlete’s career. Across the world, any Olympic gold medallist is given a high award by their country. It is a powerful statement of the role that sport can play in one’s society. For Walcott, it is well-deserved especially for a 19-year-old achieving victory at in his first Olympics.”

Of the award of the Order to Chambers, a former PNM Prime Minister, PNM political leader Dr Keith Rowley last night said, “It is a well earned acknowledgment of Chambers’ life of service to the population.”

“As a public servant and official he served as a minister and prime minister and he dedicated his life to that kind of public service and it is usual for that to be acknowledged and so this is very welcome and I congratulate his wife, Juliana.”

Of Chambers, Rowley said, “he was a very simple man who rose to one of the highest offices in the land. He is now recognised as one of the best ministers of finance this country has ever seen.”

Chambers is awarded in the field of public service. He is most remembered as the Prime Minister who followed PNM Prime Minister Eric Williams after his sudden death in 1981. At the time, Chambers was one of three Deputy Leaders and was appointed Prime Minister by then President Sir Ellis Clarke. He led the PNM to victory in the 1981 General Elections. In 1986, he led the PNM to its worst ever electoral defeat (winning only three of the 36 seats in Parliament). Following the defeat, Chambers resigned and was succeeded as PNM leader by Patrick Manning. Born on October 4, 1928, Chambers was a PNM MP for St Ann’s East, the seat held today by Joanne Thomas. He won that seat in 1996 and was appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. He also served as Minister of Public Utilities and Housing; Planning and Development Minister; Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security; Minister of Industry, Commerce and Agriculture and a Minister of Finance. He died on November 4, 1997.

Upon his death, an obituary in the UK’s Independent opened with the following paragraph, “George Chambers was always the quiet man of modern Caribbean politics. In a region where the early nationalist political leaders were often charismatic and nearly always loud and rumbustious, he was a distinctly low-key figure. This did not stop him rising from lower middle-class origins and an early position as a legal clerk to become Trinidad and Tobago’s second post-independence prime minister.” Noting the economic depression which Chambers faced in his tenure, after the frenzied boom days under Williams, the paper remarked, “His legacy was awkward in the extreme.”

Rienzi is awarded the Order for contributions to the field of labour. He was previously awarded the Public Service Medal of Merit (Gold) in 1972 (posthumous) for public service.

Rienzi, born Krishna Deonarine in 1905, was a trade unionist, politician and lawyer. He was first President General of the of the Oilfields Workers Trade Union (OWTU), and was involved in the establishment of three other trade unions. He was also the first president of the Trinidad and Tobago Trades Union Council, from its foundation in 1938 until 1944. Rienzi is also known as an advocate for the rights of Indo-Trinidadians. He lobbied for more employment of Indo-Trinidadians in the public service, the right to cremation, the recognition of Hindu and Muslim marriages and the establishment of schools by non-Christian religious groups. Rienzi also served four terms on the San Fernando Borough Council (three as Mayor of San Fernando) and represented Victoria on the Legislative Council from 1937-1944. He then worked in the public service as a Crown Counsel. He died on July 21, 1972.

“He, like others, is very deserving for their contributions for nation-building,” said OWTU President General Ancel Roget. “It is on their backs and shoulders that Trinidad and Tobago was born. The contribution of labour laid the foundation for what came in 1962; what we are celebrating today.”

By Andre Bagoo

Source: www.newsday.co.tt