Hochoy: Robinson died a sad man

Former Tobago House of Assembly (THA) chief secretary and Platform of Truth leader Hochoy Charles has said former president and prime minister Arthur NR Robinson died a sad man because the issue of constitutional reform for Tobago still remains to be addressed. 

“Mr Robinson wanted Tobago to get its power to fix Tobago. The conversation we had, people don’t understand. The man gone in the grave, I am very sad where that is concerned. 

“Mr Robinson has died a sad man because we still have not done this thing to give the people of Tobago the power,” Charles said. He made the remarks at a political meeting held by his party, in the village of Golden Lane, on Saturday.

Charles said Robinson’s decision to be buried in Tobago showed his nature. 

“Mr Robinson was there holding on and I am sure he heard that we started having these meetings and I know he heard we had them. We had the first meeting that went well, all the parties were there. The second meeting the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) did not turn up.” 

Charles said all parties needed to join together to deal with the issue of constitutional reform, including the TOP, TPT and the People’s National Movement (PNM). 

He said if this is not done, no one in Tobago would be freed and the people would remain divided. 

“All of us have to speak the same language in Tobago, so that we get liberation. This is the only way. Individuals are not important in liberation struggles. In liberation struggles it is the people to be liberated. 

“We must stand together and seek our liberation. That’s what standing together means. Then the system of governance will be delivered to the people. Forget the ILP, that is a new political party coming to Tobago, they come to do the same thing like the rest. Forget them. All of  them same khaki pants, different size of pocket.”

 Charles said uniting the people of Tobago must be the tribute that Tobago pays Robinson, who was the author of the struggle for Tobago.

“That he will feel good in his grave and with his God, do that and bring it home.” 

Source:expresstrinidad

Nation In Sorrow over Death of ANR Robinson

The country had been expecting it. 

Former President and Prime Minister of the
Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson

But when it happened around six o’clock yesterday morning, the nation bowed its head in collective sorrow. 

Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson, former president and prime minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, died at St Clair Medical Centre.

Robinson, 87, had been ailing for some time.

Robinson touched and shaped many administrations during his career, which spanned from 1956 to 2003. For sheer political endurance, he was unique.

Every time we spoke in terms of his possible political demise, we witnessed his amazing political resurrection.

The country’s third prime minister and its third president mastered the difficult art of moving from poli­tical wilderness to political pinnacles.

Part of the reason for this lay in his unshakeable bond with Tobago, of which he became its strongest advocate. If Eric Williams is deemed to be the father of the nation, Robinson was the father of Tobago, where he was born in Calder Hall on December 16, 1926.

He not only raised the consciousness of the average Tobagonian, he embodied the Tobago spirit, yearning and earning its place in the poli­tical sun.

He piloted the motion for Tobago self-government in 1976, which led to the creation of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), of which he became the first chairman in 1980.

Robinson is expected to be buried in Tobago, alongside his wife, Patricia.

However, it was as prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago in 1990, when armed insurgents stormed the Parliament building, that Robinson’s legacy as a substantial national figure is most entrenched.

His defiant call to the armed for­ces to “attack with full force” reflec­ted a selflessness and fortitude which few might have exhibited in such a situation and would forever be recorded in the annals of Trinidad and Tobago’s history. Robinson was shot in the leg as a consequence.