FORMER?Prime Minister, Owen Arthur, puckered his lips as he sadly gazed upon the body of late Prime Minister, David Thompson, who defeated him in the January 2008 elections.
Arthur, who days before Thompson passed away, regained the leadership of the Barbados Labour Party, was accompanied by his wife, Julie, as he viewed the body.
He told the?NATION?that it was a poignant occasion.
“The reality is it was an abstract matter before but to see him it brought home the reality. The one point I have made and I will like to repeat is that the majority of persons who have led the country have not come to enjoy what Barbadian citizens regard as an ordinary gift – the gift of long life. The majority of our leaders have all died below the age we wish for and it is a humbling thing and it causes you think of your own mortality.”
Former Leader of the BLP, Mia Mottley was also emotional.
She fought back tears as she stood alone in the chamber next to Thompson’s casket for several seconds, looking at his body, her face twisted in agony.
When she emerged from the Lower House all she was able to utter was: “It is a sad day.”
LEFT: OPPOSITION LEADER OWEN ARTHUR (left) and wife Julie filing past the body of late Prime Minister David Thompson. (BGIS) AT RIGHT: MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT and former Opposition Leader Mia Mottley broke down in tears after viewing the body of the late prime minister yesterday. (Picture by Sandy Pitt)