For the last two weeks of Oc­to­ber 2022, and up to No­vem­ber 4, the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) will en­gage in a se­ries of ac­tiv­i­ties to high­light and com­mem­o­rate the life and lega­cy of the late George Michael Cham­bers, the sec­ond Prime Min­is­ter of Trinidad and To­ba­go, and a for­mer Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for St. Ann’s East.

No­vem­ber 4 this year marks the 25th An­niver­sary of his pass­ing.

A re­lease is­sued by the po­lit­i­cal par­ty says the se­ries of events will be led by the Re­search Com­mit­tee of the PNM, chaired by Dr Nyan Gads­by-Dol­ly, Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for St. Ann’s East.

Among the par­ty’s ac­tiv­i­ties as­so­ci­at­ed with this com­mem­o­ra­tion are a Youth Es­say/ Po­et­ry Com­pe­ti­tion, which be­gins to­day, Oc­to­ber 17, and ends on Oc­to­ber 30; a Youth Art Com­pe­ti­tion, which be­gins to­day, Oc­to­ber 17, and ends on Oc­to­ber 30; and the pub­lish­ing of a Com­mem­o­ra­tive Ar­ti­cle in print me­dia on No­vem­ber 4, 2022, the 25th An­niver­sary of his pass­ing.

“The pub­lic is al­so ad­vised that the Na­tion­al Li­brary will host an ex­hi­bi­tion on the Life and Lega­cy of George Cham­bers, the sec­ond Prime Min­is­ter of Trinidad and To­ba­go, from No­vem­ber 4th to 18th,” the PNM’s re­lease said, not­ing that NALIS will share more in­for­ma­tion about the ex­hi­bi­tion clos­er to its start date.

The PNM re­lease al­so re­counts key chap­ters in the late Mr Cham­bers’ life in pub­lic ser­vice and the coun­try’s pol­i­tics.

“The Peo­ple's Na­tion­al Move­ment takes this op­por­tu­ni­ty to ho­n­our the con­tri­bu­tion of for­mer Prime Min­is­ter George Cham­bers, born on Oc­to­ber 4, 1928, who passed at age 69, on No­vem­ber 4, 1997.

“Mr Cham­bers en­tered the po­lit­i­cal are­na in 1966 to con­test the gen­er­al elec­tion in the brand new con­stituen­cy of St. Ann’s East. Mr Cham­bers served as Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary in the Min­istry of Fi­nance un­der Mr ANR Robin­son, and at the par­ty lev­el, he held the po­si­tion of As­sis­tant Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary un­til his ap­point­ment as Deputy Po­lit­i­cal Leader by Dr Er­ic Williams in 1971. Mr Cham­bers went on to hold sev­er­al key Min­is­te­r­i­al port­fo­lios - Min­is­ter of Fi­nance, Ed­u­ca­tion and the mega Min­istry of Trade, In­dus­try & Com­merce along with the Min­istry of Agri­cul­ture, Lands and Fish­eries.

“On 30 March 1981, fol­low­ing the pass­ing of the na­tion's first Prime Min­is­ter, Dr Er­ic Williams, George Cham­bers was ap­point­ed Prime Min­is­ter of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go. Sev­en months af­ter be­com­ing Prime Min­is­ter, Mr Cham­bers led the PNM to Gen­er­al Elec­tion vic­to­ry on No­vem­ber 7, 1981.

“Mr Cham­bers served as Prime Min­is­ter of Trinidad and To­ba­go from 1981 to 1986, and will be re­mem­bered for his courage, pa­tri­o­tism, bold­ness and his con­sis­tent hu­mil­i­ty. He was a man of the peo­ple, with an hon­est and sim­ple lifestyle, and undis­put­ed love for Trinidad and To­ba­go.

The Peo­ple's Na­tion­al Move­ment salutes the con­tri­bu­tion of this out­stand­ing cit­i­zen, for­mer Prime Min­is­ter George Michael Cham­bers, and en­cour­ages the na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty, with spe­cial em­pha­sis on the youth, to cel­e­brate his lega­cy by par­tic­i­pat­ing in the ac­tiv­i­ties planned in his ho­n­our.”