Sinckler pays tribute to ‘tremendous contribution’

A former political adversary of Owen Arthur has said the former Prime Minister’s  sharp tongue and battle-ready temperament represented just one side of his personality.

Chris Sinckler, the last Democratic Labour Party finance minister who was often at the receiving end of Arthur’s robust critiques, said he got to know Arthur as a friend and respected his standing as a leading economist.

Sinckler said the retired St Peter MP made a “tremendous contribution to Barbados”.

According to Sinckler: “He distinguished himself as a very clever and competent political leader; a very stable and competent Prime Minister and outside of the context of that, as I got to know him much better, in his post prime ministerial role, he equally demonstrated to me that he was quiet and cared for many persons in our society.

“I would not go as far to say we were personal friends but I saw in him a side that you would not necessarily have seen in politics because in the political arena, once you put on the battle gear – of course he was known to be quite sharp in his wit and his tongue and temperament – and for a lot of politicians, that tends to give people the impression that that’s the be-all and end-all of a personality in politics.

“That was not the case where Owen was concerned and I got to see that.”

Sinckler, who earlier this year was chosen by Prime Minister Mia Mottley along with Arthur to serve on a special jobs and investment council, said he attended several CARICOM summits as head of the Caribbean Policy Development Centre and admired Arthur’s commitment to regionalism.

He said: “I got to see his tremendous intellect on matters of regional integration. He was an extremely strong regional integrationist.

“You got to see from a distance, his capacity as an economist both at the academic and practical level, having served as Minister of Finance quite successfully for an extended period of time and then generally as Prime Minister of Barbados… and to do so with a high degree of success.

“When he was at his peak of political and intellectual prowess, he strode the political environment in Barbados like a colossus in those days. His passing is a loss for Barbados and to the region. He still had quite a bit more to contribute.

“We saw him as chairman of LIAT and he was part of the team putting together the [United Nations Conference on Trade and Development] which had to be postponed because of COVID-19.

“Luckily I’ve had the privilege of sitting with him on the Prime Minister’s Special Consultative Committee on Jobs and Investment only recently within the last few months and was a member of a special group… on industrial transformation.

“He really up until the very end… was sharp in mind, thought and intellect. He had a lot more to contribute and therefore his passing is quite untimely and regrettable at this stage.”