One of a cadre of integrationists molded at the University of the West Indies and a self-described Federationist, Mr. Rainford holds a B.Sc. in Economics from the UWI. In 1963, he went to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, earning a B.A.in Jurisprudence in 1965, and a Diploma in Economic Development in 1966. He was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in 1971 and in that year, gained his Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of Toronto.

Secretary-General Rainford assumed office at a time of challenges, one of the more prominent among them being the Grenada crisis with the assassination of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and the overthrow of his government. Within a month of assuming office, Secretary-General Rainford had to convene one of the most acrimonious Special Meetings of the Conference.

His tenure gave practical action and direction to major integration developments. For example, after Heads of Government adopted the Nassau Understanding on Structural Adjustment and Closer Integration for Accelerated Development in the Caribbean Community in 1984, Mr. Rainford and his team began a period of measured and careful rebuilding which culminated in the Grand Anse Declaration of 1989.

Among the developments under his tenure were substantial progress in the removal of barriers to the free movement of goods; advancement of the construction of the Common External Tariff; the rudiments of the Regional Stock Exchange and the cross-border listing and trading of shares in the Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchanges, were in place; the negotiation of the framework for the Caribbean Investment Fund; reactivation and revival of the Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA); and the creation of or consolidation of institutions for common regional action such as the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI) and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) now the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).

During his tenure, the Region introduced a new focus on the environment. In 1989, CARICOM Ministers of Environment issued a major Declaration – the Accord of Port-of-Spain which formed the basis for the Community’s strong and effective participation as a group in the June 1992 United Nations Conference on Environmental and Development.

Mr. Rainford has received several honours including the Cacique Crown of Honour from Guyana in 1989 and the Order of Jamaica in 1992. In 2008, the UWI conferred on him an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws.

Conference of Heads of Government, Suriname, 4-5 July 2022.

Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards is a national of Antigua and Barbuda. He was born on March 7 1952 and raised in Ovals. He comes from a working class community on the southern side of the capital city St. John’s, which produced several national cricketers and footballers before him.

Sir Vivian – known in Antigua as ‘Vivi’ – is from a family of four boys. His father, Malcolm, is a prison officer who played football and cricket at national levels. His mother, Gretel, a church-going stay-at-home mom has been described as the ‘pacifier’ of the family.  Sir Vivian is father of four wonderful kids: Mali, Matara, Masaba and Nikka.

He was educated at the St. John’s Boys Primary School and the prestigious Antigua Grammar School, which contributed to his sport life and his discipline character development.

In 1974, he was selected into the West Indies team and within 2 years became a very important player for the West Indies. Between 1984 and 1991, Sir Vivian captained the West Indian cricket team and, led the team to twenty-seven victories. He remains the only West Indies captain to have never lost a Test series.

In the year 2000 he was named by a 100-member panel of cricket experts, appointed by the famous Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack, as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the 20th century.

The life story of Sir Vivian is emblematic of a symbiotic love affair between an individual and a community. Sir Vivian seen as the ‘embodiment of the hopes and aspirations of his homeland’.  Pundits had gleaned that his batting style – aggressive and passionate – was rooted in and an expression of a defiant national culture. At that early age he was seen as the ‘embodiment of the hopes and aspirations of his homeland’. It was a burden that Vivi Richards accepted. He has rewarded and continues to reward his society for that faith expressed in him.

Sports writers compete to describe his approach to batting – scouring the dictionary to find the most illustrative and descriptive words. Those who were excited by his power sprinkled cricket literature with words like – awesome, ballistic, brutal, carnage, dismantling, devastating, ferocious, imperious, insane, intimidating, lethal. Those who saw beauty and art wrote – arrogance, clinical, flamboyant, grace, mastery, swagger. Those who saw both beauty and power described his batting as ‘calculated menace and magnificent theatre.’ The more adventurous – unafraid of hyperbole – wrote of him bestriding ‘the cricketing world like the proverbial colossus’ or living ‘beyond the boundary of the orthodox’. All were aware of his self- confidence and fearlessness, noting that although he played against some of the most intimidating and fearsome fast bowlers that the cricketing world has known, he never wore a batting helmet.

Sir Vivian understood and emphasized that ‘cricket is more than a sport’. He saw it as ‘a political and social process’ capable of uniting the Caribbean region. He understood deeply what the success of cricket meant to the West Indies, and as a player he played the game with pride and intensity, that at times led to criticism of his leadership style.  

Sir Vivian saw cricket as a Caribbean contribution to the international struggle against racism and white supremacy. His Afro-Caribbean socio-political sensibilities blossomed through identification with Rastafarianism and the Black Power movement into Pan-African thought and consciousness. An open cheque could not entice him to play cricket in apartheid South Africa. He considers his rejection of the million US dollar offer as ‘the greatest innings he ever played.’ It earned him regional and international respect in which he still basks.

He has written ‘I would like to think that I carried my bat for the liberation of African and other oppressed people everywhere’.

His Honors

• In 1994, Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to cricket.
• In 1999, Knight Commander of the Order of the Nation (KCN) by his native country Antigua and Barbuda.
• In 2006, Knight of the Order of the National Hero (KNH).
• In 2007, the new cricket stadium in Antigua and Barbuda, replete with life-size statue, was named in his honour.
• The Calcutta Cricket and Football Club has honoured him with a life membership.
• The Somerset Cricket Club –, has named one of the gates to the Taunton grounds in his honour.
• The Richards–Botham Trophy named in his honour and replaced the Wisden Trophy to the winner of each West Indies–England Test series.

A grateful Caribbean Community presents Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, its highest award the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC).

A Life Dedicated to Service

Introduction

Today we have the pleasure of honouring one of the most distinguished daughters of the Caribbean, Dame Billie Miller of Barbados, who has lived a life of dedicated service to the people of the Caribbean, and who has been a trailblazer in the fight for the rights of women all over the world.

Early life and education

Billie, as she is affectionately and universally known, was born on January 8th 1944 into an eminent Barbadian family. Her father, Fredrick ‘Freddie’ Miller, was repeatedly elected, as a member of the Barbados Labour Party, to the Parliament of Barbados from 1948 to 1966, and served as Minister of Health during his tenure. Billie grew up in her family home in Brighton, St. Michael

She was educated at Belair Junior School and Queen’s College, Barbados, and went on to study law at King’s College, then in Newcastle, and the Council of Legal Education in England.

Public Service

• From 1969 – 1976, practised as a Barrister and Attorney-At-Law. She was the third woman to practice law at the private bar in Barbados.
• In 1976, she won the seat for the City of Bridgetown.
• With her hard work, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act was approved in 1983.
• Minister of Health and National Insurance, and became the first woman to sit in the Cabinet of Barbados.
• Re-elected seven times as a Member of Parliament for the City of Bridgetown.
• Between 1986-1991, Senator and Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate.
• A member of the steering committee of the Commonwealth Caribbean Resource Centre (COMCARC)
• From 1994 – 2003, The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and International Business, and added to her work, the portfolio of Tourism and International Transport from 1995-1999.
• Leader of the House of Assembly from 1994 to 2003
• Deputy Prime Minister under the Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur.
• Senior Minister in the Cabinet, retaining the portfolios of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade until retirement.

A few of her illustrious achievements: 

• 2014–2018, Member of a Dispute Settlement Panel of the World Trade Organisation;
• 2017-2018, High Level Group on Commonwealth Governance;
• 2010-2017, Member of the Board of Directors of Women Deliver (New York);
• 2008-2014, Member of the Board of the Inter-American Dialogue (Washington D.C.);
• 2002-2008, Coordinator of CARICOM Ministerial Spokespersons with Responsibility for External Bilateral Negotiations between African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU), the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the Free Trade Area of the American (FTAA);
• 2002, President of the 32nd Regular Session of the General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS);
• 1996-2002, Chairman of the Inter-American Development Bank’s Advisory Council on Women in Development (Washington D.C.);
• 2000-2001, Chairman of the Association of Caribbean States’ Ministerial Council;
• 1998, President of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States Council of Ministers (Brussels);
• 1997-1998, The first woman Chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Association; 
• 1996-1999, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association;
• 1994, Chairman of the NGO Planning Committee for the first International Conference on Population and Development, Egypt;
• 1991-1997, President of the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region;
• 1981-1986, Member of the Council of the University of the West Indies;
• 2009-present, Vice President of the Barbados Association of Retired Persons;
• 2011-present, Patron of the Caribbean Institute for Women in Leadership;
• 2016-present, Patron of the Breastfeeding and Child Nutrition Foundation of Barbados;
• 2019-present, Member of Global Americans

Her list of honours and awards, both national and international, is also a lengthy one. 

• The Queens’s Silver Jubilee Medal – 1977
• The Barbados Centennial Award – 2000
• The Grantley Adams Award – 2001
• The National Order of Juan Mora Fernandez  – 2001
• The Woman of Great Esteem Award –– 2002
• The Dame Elsie Payne Award for Excellence – 2002
• Grand Officer of the National Order of Benin
• Honorary Fellow of the Honors College at Florida International University –  2001
• Dame of St Andrew – 2003
• The Order of Bernardo O’Higgins in the rank of Gran Cruz – 2006,
• Lifetime Achievement Award, 2006
• Selected as the Laureate for the United Nations Population Award– 2008
• Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws – 2014
• Created Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary – May 2018

Conclusion

Dame Billie has been passionate about many things all her life: her beloved Bridgetown, serving the people of Barbados, promoting a robust role for NGOs in making lives better, advancing the cause of regional integration and unity, and fighting for the rights of small island states in the international arena.

She has been not only outspoken and unrelenting in her advocacy, but has also taken the time to encourage and mentor many young women, including the present Prime Minister of Barbados, the Hon. Mia Mottley, Q.C., M.P. In this case, her mentorship has obviously borne precious fruit.

It is with great pleasure the Caribbean Community confers on Dame Billie Miller its highest award – The Order of the Caribbean Community.  Let us all join in expressing our congratulations to Dame Billie. 

Thank you.

Can you hear a distant drum,
Bouncing on the laughter, of a melody?
And does the rhythm tell you come come come,
Does your spirt do a dance,
To this symphony?

Calypso Music,
David Michael Rudder

Dr. Gordon Rohlehr, respected academic, researcher and writer on calypso describes the artform “as a mirror that reflects, and as a lens that either magnifies or reduces the phenomena on which the nation’s restless and excitable psyche feeds.” Calypso emerged at a particular historical conjuncture in Trinidad and Tobago and was once considered by some to be the province only of those who belonged to a certain class. Today, due recognition and honour are accorded to an outstanding calypsonian whose music has delighted the hearts and uplifted the minds of untold millions across the world.

This living genius exploded onto the musical and social landscape of Trinidad and Tobago in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and over the decades it has become evident that his talent and impact have no limit. This master of the Artform is a proud son of Trinidad and Tobago and a giant of the Caribbean Community.

From the very first note, a Rudder song captures the soul and never lets it go. Mr. Rudder has given us the anthem that rallies West Indians near and far. He beseeched us to appreciate our neighbors and to empathize with them in their times of struggle. With his unique and timeless lyrics and melodies, he calls attention to the plight of the common man and conveys the power we wield when we ‘stand up and send a message.’ He strives continuously to elevate the Caribbean consciousness and gave us the key to living harmoniously in a multi-ethnic society – ‘let you be you, and I’ll be me’.

Mr. David Michael Rudder is the very definition of a cultural icon. A name synonymous with Caribbean pride: pride in the heritage, diversity and beauty of the peoples inhabiting these countries of our region.

Born on May 6, 1953, one of nine children, David Michael Rudder grew up in an area commonly known as Freetown in Belmont, Trinidad. His childhood seemed to map the influences that would guide his conscience and colour his music. He was baptised three times: as a Baptist by his grandmother, as an Anglican by his mother and as a Catholic in school and thus, he is amiably called Reverend David Rudder by many of his followers. He lived in close proximity to a pan yard and a Shango yard, elements that would be at the foundation of his work. Those vibrations gave us the sound that is distinctly his. Indeed, Belmont is the cradle from which many who excelled in the arts originated. Belmont was the incubator, the place where the commingling of diverse influences nurtured gifts that must be acknowledged as divine.

David Michael Rudder is the consummate creative – having interest and talent in visual arts such as painting and sculpture as well as in performing arts. He was an apprentice to the late Ken Morris, a master craftsman known for his copper work and exquisite Carnival designs.

David Michael Rudder’s musical trajectory can be traced back to his participation in singing competitions at school, where at the age of nine, he was already able to enthrall audiences, confirming, for those who were paying attention, that something great was in emergence. Eventually even those who were not paying attention would find themselves riveted, transported. At the age of eleven he sang with a group called The Solutions. In 1977 he joined the pioneering calypso band, Charlie’s Roots, originally as a temporary replacement for the great Christopher “Tambu” Herbert, but then he stayed on as a co-lead singer. In Charlie’s Roots, Mr. Rudder demonstrated his burgeoning talent in both composing songs and performing on stage.

While earning a living as an accounts clerk at the Public Transport Service Corporation, Mr. Rudder was a very good backup singer in the calypso tent run by Lord Kitchener who is rightfully revered as “the Grandmaster.” Mr. Rudder worked behind the scenes in calypso tents and studios, year after year, before his cataclysmic 1986. In that year, his album “The Hammer” smashed its way into the consciousness of our people. It gave timeless hits such as “The Hammer” and “Bahia Girl” and enabled him to be the very first artiste to capture the three major competition titles in the same year – Young King, Calypso Monarch and Road March King. One of his compositions was also used by the steel band that won the Panorama competition that year.

In the year 1992, Mr. Rudder was awarded the Trinidad and Tobago Humming Bird Silver Medal in recognition of his unfailing contribution to uplift the roots of Calypsonian culture. And in 1996, he was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Development Programme.

Through his music, Mr. Rudder has played a most significant role in exporting Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean to the wider world. He was also one of the pioneers of soca music, which is a prominent feature of carnivals within our region and far beyond. The band Charlie’s Roots accompanied Peter Minshall’s Carnival Band on Carnival Mondays and Tuesdays and Rudder’s music was essential to the unique performances of the masqueraders in those costumes. Mr. Rudder has also been featured in magazines, journals and features, such as the British Sunday Observer and Guardian, the Barbados Nation, the Jamaican Gleaner, Germany’s Berliner Morgenpost, the Los Angeles Times, Stern Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Billboard magazine, Class, Ebony Magazine, and Newsweek. He has performed in just about all of the historic venues across North America, Europe, and Japan. His repertoire even transcended the calypso stage into the film industry. He starred in a television drama entitled Sugar Cane Arrows, which was a pioneering Trinidad and Tobago drama aired in the United States of America. He also wrote songs for the Hollywood movie Wild Orchid.

Aside from winning prestigious awards and being featured in myriad shows and in the print media, David Michael Rudder has been studied by music critics and academics alike. In 2015, he was awarded a Doctor of Letters honoris causa by The University of the West Indies, for his outstanding works and contributions to society.

Mr. Rudder is an icon who poetically chronicled much of our region’s struggles, such as the problems arising from the World Trade Organization’s ruling against the concessions offered under the Lomé Convention; he also immortalized the West Indies cricket team, giving them an anthem.

David Michael Rudder was given the moniker “King David” by the Mighty Sparrow, a fitting connect to the biblical King David’s acclaim as the great musician.

David Michael Rudder’s, contribution has marked the people of the region. His life’s work is enduring and he continues to inspire the people of the Caribbean Community to see ourselves for who we are, and to reach for what we must become.

 Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, is best described as a regionalist who dedicated his time and effort towards realizing the regional integration agenda set by CARICOM Heads of Government. In doing so he has served as Assistant Secretary General at the CARICOM Secretariat and the seventh Secretary General of our Community.

 Ambassador LaRocque was born in the Commonwealth Of Dominica where he received his early education. Subsequently, he attended the Queens College, the New School for Social Research and New York University where he majored in Political Philosophy, Political Economics and Economics.

In the Commonwealth of Dominica he accepted the position of Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Enterprise Development and subsequently served as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministries of Tourism and Foreign Affairs. There is no doubt that his tenure in the Public Service of the Commonwealth of Dominica prepared him for his duties and responsibilities at the CARICOM Secretariat.

 Ambassador LaRocque joined the staff of the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana in 2005 as Assistant Secretary General. In 2011, he was appointed Secretary General by the CARICOM Heads of Government and served for two consecutive terms. Upon his appointment, he immediately became the champion for reform at the Secretariat.

With the assistance of staff, consultants and various organs of CARICOM, the first CARICOM Strategic Plan 2015-2019 was approved at the Conference of Heads of the Government in 2014. The Strategic Plan outlined a framework for social and economic development, with Caribbean citizens as the beneficiaries of the actions to be implemented by the Secretariat, Organs and Institutions of the Community as well as Member States. The preparation and adoption of the first Strategic Plan was indeed a major achievement for Ambassador LaRocque and his staff.

  His major achievements are listed accordingly:

• Restructuring of the Secretariat to make it more efficient and effective;
• Strengthening of the internal systems to improve on audits, communications and monitoring of results;
• Establishing the CARICOM Committee of Ambassadors to enhance governance and advance implementation in member states;
• Strengthening of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA);
• Strengthening of the Caribbean Health and Food Safety Agency ( CAHFSA) to perform a coordinating and organizing role for an effective and efficient Regional Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) regime to benefit trade in agriculture;
• Establishing the Caribbean Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CCREEE);
• Establishing the Caribbean Community Administrative Tribunal (CCAT) to arbitrate employment disputes for all staff at the Secretariat and other CARICOM institutions, as these bodies, being international organizations, enjoy immunity from local laws and before national courts;
• A new Multi-lateral Services Agreement to liberalise air services in the Region;
• And also, Various Protocols and Agreements adopted and implemented including on Public Procurement and Contingent Rights

His emphasis on and interest in the youth was a major driver of his work. He oversaw the development of the CARICOM Human Resource Development Strategy 2030 and Action Plan and was a keen advocate of the Creativity for Employment and Business Opportunity (CEBO) Programme which fostered an entrepreneurial spirit among our youth.

Secertary-General LaRocque was also instrumental in the Re-engagement of the private sector with regular interaction with Heads of Government and other Community Organs resulting in the formation of the CARICOM Private Sector Organization which was formally established in 2021, and is an Associate Institution of the Community.

He worked to the end, bringing global attention to issues that were significantly impacting member territories, such as; Climate Change; the ongoing Covid 19 Pandemic and in particular the acquisition of vaccines; Blacklisting and De-risking, security, maritime and border protection.

Issues of staff tenure and advancement were fixtures on his agenda, as was the budgetary limitations of the Secretariat and he used every opportunity to dialogue with Heads and colleagues, always hopeful for better outcomes.   

Throughout the many seasons of global and regional challenges, natural economic and manmade, Ambassador LaRocque maintained his calm nature and skillfully navigated the Caribbean Community through the raging waters and rugged landscapes.

For his contribution and devotion to Caribbean unity and sustained commitment to regional integration and advancement, we applaud Ambassador LaRocque for outstanding service to the region.

We salute him for leaving and indelible mark on this intuition and the region and confer on him the Community’s Highest Award. 

Her entry into the political arena came in 1968 owing to the attempt of the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) to have a Sedition Act passed. From then onward she never looked back and confidently blazed the trail for what was to become a distinguished course of statesmanship.

She was appointed to the Legislature in 1970 and to the House of Assembly in 1975. She co-founded the Dominica Freedom Party in 1972 and became the Leader of the Opposition in 1975. Her involvement with her party helped her country relinquish colonial rule on 3rd November, 1978.

Mounting dissatisfaction with the pace of reconstruction after a devastating hurricane helped Ms. Charles lead a political campaign which ensured victory in the 1980 general elections. Thus it was that she was elected Prime Minister, a position which she held for fifteen years. During this period she earned for herself the title of “Iron Lady of the Caribbean”, no doubt because of her indomitable will and unflinching dedication and commitment to set principles and her fearlessness in giving utterance to her beliefs in the face of opposition or maybe, in spite of it.

As Prime Minister Eugenia Charles was instrumental in the introduction of programmes aimed at economic reform and as Chairman of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), encouraged the US led invasion of Grenada in October 1983. She later held the positions of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Economic Affairs and Defence. Her stand on the regional integration movement can be determined from the following words taken from her address to the 8th Heads of Government Meeting in Castries, St. Lucia in 1987:

“…I am of the firm opinion that CARICOM must continue to exist, but it must exist for the purpose of improving the quality of life of all our people. If it does not succeed in doing this, then we must abandon it. We must emphasize that we are not in CARICOM merely to show that there is “unity” among us in the English-speaking Caribbean – no, we are in CARICOM because the unity it aims at achieving will bring benefits to all our people. Therefore we must work hard at making CARICOM what it should be, what it was meant to be and what in our dignified and formal speeches we say that it is.”

Mary Eugenia Charles was knighted by Queen Elizabeth 11 at Harare, Zimbabwe in 1991, a fitting tribute to her distinguished career as lawyer, politician and journalist. She retired from the duties of Office in 1995 and very soon enrolled at the John Hopkins School of International Studies where she studied the European Union, the United States of America and Canada.

An evaluation of the life of Dame Eugenia Charles reveals that she has herself lived up to her own conception of the qualities of a good leader, and that is, “Leaders must look after the things that need looking after without looking after themselves.” 

In February 2003 the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community conferred upon her the Order of the Caribbean Community.

Dame Nita Barrow’s calling to service in the health care field commenced with a career in nursing, one of the few options open to young women in her time. From nursing to health care administration she progressed to a remarkable and illustrious career in Public Health and Heath Education which transported her into the spotlight of the international arena. Her appointment in 1964 as Nursing Adviser to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and subsequently to the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) availed her the wonderful opportunity to serve the Region she loved as principal adviser to sixteen Caribbean governments and sparked off a long productive career in the UN System. Dame Barrow was recognized internationally as an authority on Public Health and Health Education, producing several publications on issues pertaining to health care. The scholastic career of this eminent daughter of the Caribbean included graduate degrees from the University of Toronto and the University of Edinborough.

A strong Christian and daughter of an Anglican Priest, Dame Barrow lived a spiritually anchored life, pursuing the provision of adequate health care out of her deep concern for the welfare of humanity. She was appointed Director of the Christian Medical Commission on the World Council of Churches in 1975. Dame Barrow is acclaimed for her active involvement in and strong advocacy for women’s rights, particularly the right to adequate health care. Through service within the United Nations and other engagements of her international career she consistently represented the condition of women and disadvantaged groups with the hope of alleviating manifestations of poverty in their daily lives. Participation in activities to mark the UN Decade for Women and her appointment as Director of the Global Forum for Women generated further opportunities for Dame Barrow to advocate and provide leadership in the interest of women.

Dame Nita Barrow earned a stellar reputation in her career in the diplomatic community. From 1986 – 1990 she functioned as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Barbados to the UN, a prelude to her appointment as Governor-General of Barbados from 1990 –1995. Dame Barrow’s life of dedicated service accorded her the honour of representation on numerous international bodies including several UN Groupings on the Environment and as a Member of the Earth Council. In recognition of her life of exemplary leadership and service to the region’s women and its peoples in general Dame Barrow has the distinction of being the first Caribbean woman to be accorded membership of the Order of the Caribbean Community in 1994. Other awards deservedly granted in the service of others include the Caribbean Prize for Peace Through Struggle For Justice in 1986. She was honoured as Dame of St. Andrew and Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George.

His cross-national Caribbean identity is born out of Grenada, his birthplace, and Trinidad and Tobago, his homeland since the early age of two.

The Mighty Sparrow, in his 48 years as a singer of the uniquely Caribbean art form of Calypso, has delighted and entertained on various world stages winning numerous Calypso Monarch titles, and the King of Kings competitions both times he competed in 1985 and 1988.

His songs speak to the multifaceted dimensions of the Caribbean experience, its political culture, its history, its peoples way of life and struggles, satirising and even admonishing in its social commentary. His music has achieved worldwide recognition, touching on issues of international significance.

Sparrow’s colossal collection of recordings has earned him numerous awards and commendations from various Caribbean Governments, including the Chaconia Gold Medal for long and meritorious service, Trinidad and Tobago’s second highest honour, honours from several North American cities where he performed, and the conferral of the Honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of the West Indies.

This legendary and iconic Caribbean artiste soothes the Caribbean’s soul through his music and forged a Caribbean cultural identity worldwide through the excellence and profundity of his performances.

The career achievements of this loved son of the Caribbean soil are captured succinctly in this extract from the citation presented at the conferral of his OCC award. “Sparrow has been rebel, warrior, the aggressive life force beneath the very foundations of Caribbean society, pushing down walls, transgressing boundaries of race, colour, class and caste, defining freedom”.

Dr. Demas’ career spawned tenures as Secretary-General of CARICOM and President of the Caribbean Development Bank, Chancellor of the University of Guyana and Chairman of the CARICOM Inter-Governmental Ministerial Conference reviewing the function and structure of the University of the West Indies.

Within the international community, Dr. Demas was renowned for his brilliance and expertise as an Economist and Development Specialist for which he was elected to serve on several United Nations and Commonwealth Committees and Groupings.
A true and shining example of the excellence of the Caribbean, he was undoubtedly one of the most avid supporters and advocates of the Caribbean integration movement, charting its direction through his signal contributions to the regional economy and trade policy.

The name William Demas is synonymous with Caribbean development and regionalism, a fact borne out of his untiring service to the Community, not just in mapping the path of its evolution but setting the stage for its survival into the twenty-first century.