(CMC) — The widow of Grenada’s first left-wing prime minister, Maurice Bishop, last Thursday said that while she did not support his choice to enter politics, he was nonetheless a person who put country over his own family and his legal profession when he returned from England as a lawyer in the early 1970s.
“My fellow Grenadians, I was not happy with that decision. You see, Maurice Bishop was not Maurice Bishop back then, he was just Maurice, my husband, a young father making idealistic choices as he always did but choices that had an impact on our family,” Angela Bishop said at an ecumenical service to commemorate October 19 as National Heroes Day.
The day coincided with the 40th anniversary of the murder of Bishop, who, along with several key members of his People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG), which itself had come to power by overthrowing the Government of then Prime Minister Sir Eric Gairy in March 1979, was gunned down soon after he was released from house arrest.
A military junta group within the PRG tried to make Bishop either step down or agree to a power-sharing agreement with the then Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard. Bishop rejected the proposals and was eventually deposed and placed under house arrest during the first week of October 1983 by Coard.
The in-fighting within the PRG led to the United States launching a military invasion of the island and the whereabouts of the remains of Bishop and others who were killed on October 19, 1983 remain a mystery.
“Maurice never made choices to see how much he could get, he made choices to see how much he could give, how much he could serve, very important words and that sounds lovely, but it had an impact.
“Maurice often chooses service over outings with our family, and I would see the disappointment on our children’s faces. I share that only to convey the deep and abiding love Maurice had for Grenada and for you the Grenadian people,” said Mrs Bishop, who is the mother of his two children.
