PORT OF SPAIN – Trinidad and Tobago Saturday bade farewell to Patrick Mervyn Augusts Manning, who served as prime minister on two occasions and was remembered as a person who sought not only the social and economic development of his own country, but the entire Caribbean.
Manning, 69, who died less than 24 hours after he had been diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia on July 2, was up until September 2015, the longest serving legislator here.
His son, Brian Manning, in his eulogy, called for the establishment of a regional fund to provide housing for low income people throughout the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
He said it should be called the “Patrick Manning Development Fund” and housed at the International Financial Centre here.
The younger Manning also called for the re-establishment of the Divine Echoes Orchestra that was disbanded by the People’s Partnership government soon after it replaced the Manning administration in 2010.
He told the mourners that his father truly believed that music was an avenue to help young people channel their energy, lift lives and spirits.
Manning said that his father, who served as prime minister on two occasions during the period 1991-2010 touched many lives and “lived a life of love and service” and was not an accumulator of wealth. (CMC)