Trinidad’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar said today that Sir Ellis Clarke, Trinidad and Tobago’s last Governor General and first President will be given a State funeral.
The announcement gave no date for the funeral of the 93-year-old constitutional lawyer, who served as head of state on two occasions between 1976 and 1987 and who died on Thursday night, one month after suffering a massive stroke.
“To the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, I say we have lost a national hero but we should be assured that while great people must die, death can never kill their names,” Prime Minister Persad Bissessar said in a statement.
“The Government will give this great son of the soil and the veritable Grandfather of our Nation a State funeral, as is befitting his status and accomplishments as one of Trinidad and Tobago’s greatest legal and academic minds and a contributor to nation building.
“Additionally, the National Flag will be flown at half mast, to indicate that we are a nation in mourning, until the day when Sir Ellis is laid to final rest. Again, let me reiterate that we are indeed a nation is mourning and Sir Ellis’s great legacy shall always endure.”
Sir Ellis, who wrote the Republican Constitution for the oil-rich twin island republic, died two days after celebrating his 93rd birthday.
In her message, the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister said that the death of Sir Ellis “is a tremendous loss to the national community. (CMC)
