Former Barbados PM Owen Arthur Passes

Owen Arthur

Owen Arthur, former Barbadian Prime Minister, has passed. Seventy-year-old Arthur died this morning in Barbados. The former PM was hospitalized earlier this month with heart complications. Arthur was Barbados’ fifth Prime Minister, who led his country for an unprecedented three consecutive terms from 1994 to 2008.  He was a member of the Barbadian Parliament from 1984 to 2013, when he retired from political office upon the defeat of the Barbados Labour Party. The island of Barbados will have period of national mourning for three days and all flags will be flown half mast. Here’s a snippet of the Prime Minister Mia Mottley addressing the nation of the former leader’s passing.

Mia Mottley

Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados

“Barbados lost today its fifth Prime Minister Owen Seymour Arthur.  The Owen Arthur that I knew was never too overwhelmed by the task at hand. Face it and fix it that was his mantra. Indeed his greatest domestic legacy would be considered by many as the wrestling of unemployment from the horrendous highs of the early 1990’s to under seven percent in 2008. It seems as an archaic economic achievement but it meant real things to real Bajans in real ways.  The promise that many doubted at the outset of his tenure was delivered over his tenure, the creation of thirty thousand jobs. And when it came to our country, Owen defended Barbados with a ferocity that reinforced in many that he understood and accepted that those who went before had set a very high standard for the defence of our country and that he was duty bound to continue in the same vein. This strong patriotism was anchored by a burning passion for regional integration for the Caribbean civilization. This passion fortunately coincided with his responsibility as the lead Prime Minister in CARICOM for the Single Market and Single Economy. I was with Owen in Jamaica when he signed in early 2006, with tremendous pride, the instrument that brought the CARICOM Single Market into existence. He was brimming with pride.  A man of his time and for the times in which he served. He discharged his duty as Prime Minister of Barbados and as a Caribbean leader with distinction. He shall remain in that pantheon of Caribbean leaders.”