RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA
rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Con­do­lences are con­tin­u­ing to pour in for for­mer UNC min­is­ter, Clifton De Coteau, who died this morn­ing (Fri­day 22 Jan­u­ary 2021).

De Coteau had just re­turned from buy­ing his morn­ing news­pa­pers when he col­lapsed.

In a state­ment im­me­di­ate­ly af­ter his death, Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar de­scribed De Coteau as one of the na­tion's "finest sons of the soil"

"Clifton was a true stal­wart of the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress, of­fer­ing our mem­bers, and by ex­ten­sion, our na­tion, decades of com­mit­ted ser­vice for the bet­ter­ment of the peo­ple of T&T. Few peo­ple have had the dis­tin­guished ho­n­our of serv­ing at all lev­els of our great par­ty as Clifton did, a tes­ta­ment not on­ly of his com­mit­ment to the UNC but ded­i­ca­tion to our coun­try," she said.

She not­ed that De Coteau moved through the ranks of the par­ty, serv­ing as a Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Rep­re­sen­ta­tive, Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment, Cab­i­net Min­is­ter, Al­der­man, Vice Chair­man of the Na­tion­al Ex­ec­u­tive, as well as Ed­u­ca­tion Of­fi­cer. 

"Clifton was more than just a UNC rep­re­sen­ta­tive.  He em­bod­ied the true beau­ty of hu­man­i­ty in his ac­tions of kind­ness, peo­ple-cen­tred ap­proach, and love for those around him.  It was these qual­i­ties which en­abled him to be the first UNC MP for Moru­ga/Table­land," she added.

Fond­ly known as “Un­cle Co­to”, Per­sad-Bisses­sar said his ser­vice ex­tend­ed be­yond pol­i­tics.

"As a teacher, school prin­ci­pal and school su­per­vi­sor, he was able to im­pact the lives of thou­sands of stu­dents through­out our na­tion. Co­to had an im­pec­ca­ble work eth­ic. When he served as Min­is­ter, he would be in his of­fice by 5 am each morn­ing. That was his ded­i­ca­tion and pas­sion for ser­vice," she said.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar said the UNC have lost a friend, a broth­er, a fa­ther fig­ure and most of all, a pa­tri­ot.

Mean­while, his for­mer col­leagues have ex­tend­ed con­do­lences.

MP for Pointe-a-Pierre, Dr David Lee, de­scribed Clifton De Coteau as “a great states­man”, not­ing that his pass­ing is a tremen­dous loss to the na­tion.

“He was a per­son who al­ways put oth­ers be­fore him­self, as he be­lieved in help­ing oth­ers, no mat­ter the sit­u­a­tion.  He was a man who be­lieved in im­prov­ing the lives of those around him,” MP Lee said in a state­ment in so­cial me­dia.

For­mer Agri­cul­ture Min­is­ter, De­vant Ma­haraj, said De Coteau was al­ways one to of­fer quick so­lu­tions to prob­lems.

MP for Ma­yaro, Rush­ton Paray, said De Coteau was his friend and men­tor.