Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding has said that former Montserrat chief minister John Osborne who died on Sunday after a prolonged illness had served his island with distinction.
In a message, Golding, who gave up the chairmanship of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) at the start of this year, said that Osborne, 74, “served his country with distinction as he was Montserrat’s longest serving statesman with a career spanning 38 years in the Legislative Council”.
Osborne became Chief Minister in 1978 after he led his People’s Liberation Movement to power and served until he lost the elections in 1991. But he was returned to the top post in government in 2001 for a five year period.
Osborne, who died in the United States, had retired from active politics ahead of the last general election in 2009.
