Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday suggested Government honour former president George Maxwell Richards with the country’s highest academic award and establish a national fund in his name.
Persad-Bissessar threw out the suggestion after Richards’ funeral service at the National Academy for the Performing Arts.
She said while many spoke in glowing terms about Richards’ life, the bigger questions were “How can we honour him? What is the suggestion for him to be honoured? What tributes should we pay to him? How do we remember him now?”
As an excellent educator, Persad-Bissessar, however, suggested “something at the university…maybe a chair or a national fund in his name. Those two things can be done. That is how I think we can honour him.”
However, when the question was put to Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi following the service, he said Cabinet would meet today and that “these decisions are taken as a Government through the Cabinet at the request of the family.
“So that is a matter that is still in the works and we expect it would no doubt come to the public’s attention soon.”
Asked if any suggestions to honour Richards came up, Al-Rawi said it would be presumptuous to say anything.
“Really this is a combination…less one makes an offer that is inappropriate to the family or maybe not fitting to his own personal desires. I think the purpose today is to respect the legacy and life of the former president…Max as we all call him and then to take those things into proper and measured steps.”
Princes Town MP Barry Padarath said he awaits what Government will offer Richards’ family, stating that when former prime minister Patrick Manning passed away there was a lot of banter in the public domain as to what they were going to honour him with, which never materialised.
Padarath said he hoped Richards would not be treated the same way as Manning.