President Anthony Carmona has described former prime minister Patrick Manning as a true Caribbean man.
Speaking at a tribute held in Manning’s honour at Presentation College, San Fernando, on Tuesday night, Carmona said he had heard calls for buildings to be named after Manning. However, he said it would be better to honour him by heeding the calls he made when he was alive for regional integration.
“If all those Prime Ministers in the region are serious about accolades for the late prime minister, and I think they are, let it be to re-ignite the processes to build genuine Caribbean integration, because it was his deep felt wish that we in the Caribbean are one.
“If we are interested in his legacy, we must be interested in the vision he had for Caribbean unity and Caribbean integration,” Carmona told those gathered at the school were Manning spent his informative days as a teenager.
Speaking at the same event, Manning’s wife, Hazel, said he also had a clear vision for the country.
“He understood human nature. He was a firm believer in education. He was a firm believer in the fact that when the oil and the petroleum ran out we had to rely on the human resource,” she said.
Manning died at the San Fernando General Hospital last Saturday after being diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Public viewing of his body will start today at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA) in San Fernando from 10 am. His funeral is scheduled for Saturday at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain, from 10 am.