Gail Alexan­der

Se­nior Po­lit­i­cal Re­porter

Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and sev­er­al oth­er Op­po­si­tion Par­lia­men­tar­i­ans were in­vit­ed to at­tend yes­ter­day's fu­ner­al ser­vice at San­ta Rosa RC Church for late Min­is­ter Lisa Mor­ris-Ju­lian and two of her chil­dren, ac­cord­ing to For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Dr Amery Browne.

How­ev­er, Op­po­si­tion MP for Ma­yaro Rush­ton Paray said he and col­league Cu­mu­to/Man­zanil­la MP Dr Rai Rag­bir were the on­ly UNC MPs at the church.

Both replied to ques­tions af­ter mem­bers of the pub­lic asked about the at­ten­dance of the Op­po­si­tion Leader and her MPs at the fu­ner­al ser­vice. Mor­ris-Ju­lian, 48, her el­dest daugh­ter Xi­anne, 25 and youngest son Je­si­ah, age six, per­ished in an ear­ly morn­ing fire on De­cem­ber 16 at their Ari­ma home. Mor­ris-Ju­lian had been the D'Abadie/ O'Meara MP since 2020 and was Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion.

The fu­ner­al was a state-as­sist­ed one and not a state fu­ner­al.

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley had said state-as­sist­ed specif­i­cal­ly meant the Gov­ern­ment would help the fam­i­ly by pro­vid­ing sig­nif­i­cant fund­ing and lo­gis­tics. He not­ed that the fam­i­ly would de­ter­mine the date and place of the ser­vice and the State would work along­side their de­ci­sion.

Speak­ing af­ter the fu­ner­al, Browne said yes­ter­day, "This was not a state fu­ner­al and the be­reaved fam­i­ly made the de­ter­mi­na­tions on who they wished to be present in the church to say good­bye to their loved ones.

"I am aware that the Leader of the Op­po­si­tion was in­vit­ed as well as sev­er­al oth­er UNC Par­lia­men­tar­i­ans, some of whom chose to at­tend and pay their re­spects. It was an emo­tion­al and heart­felt send-off in trib­ute to the lives of a most beloved and out­stand­ing mem­ber of the Ari­ma com­mu­ni­ty and two of her dear chil­dren."

The Op­po­si­tion Leader was ac­knowl­edged in the pro­to­cols giv­en yes­ter­day, but Ma­yaro MP Paray said he saw no oth­er UNC MPs - apart from Rag­bir and him­self- at the church where pro­vi­sions were made for MPs.

Rag­bir al­so said he didn't see any oth­er UNC col­leagues at the church, "But we were blessed and for­tu­nate to see the fu­ner­al car­riage as we came," Rag­bir added.

There was no re­sponse from Per­sad-Bisses­sar or Chief Whip David Lee- head of the Op­po­si­tion bench in Par­lia­ment - to ques­tions about why they did not at­tend.