AN­GE­LO JE­DIDI­AH

an­ge­lo.je­didi­ah@guardian.co.tt

“What is right, must be kept right and what is wrong, must be set right.”- George Cham­bers

To­day marks what would have been George Michael Cham­bers’ 94th birth­day.

For 48 hours, Trinidad and To­ba­go seemed lost af­ter the sud­den death of Dr Er­ic Williams in March 1981. It was a sur­prise to many when Pres­i­dent Sir El­lis Clarke ap­point­ed George Michael Cham­bers as the na­tion's sec­ond Prime Min­is­ter.

Chambers and President Sir Ellis Clarke

As one of the three deputy po­lit­i­cal lead­ers of the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM), Cham­bers was the least like­ly to be cho­sen be­cause of his ‘un­ex­cit­ing’ and ‘silent’ de­meanour. Cham­bers soon adapt­ed to his lead­er­ship role, choos­ing to cre­ate his own path, dis­tant from the shad­ows of Dr Williams as the na­tion’s ‘found­ing fa­ther.’

Be­sides lead­ing the na­tion through tu­mul­tuous eco­nom­ic times, Cham­bers made no­table na­tion­al changes that re­main to­day.

Chambers with soon-to-be prime ministers, A.N.R. Robinson & Basedo Panday.

1. While Cham­bers chose to forge his own style, he still found ways to pay homage to his pre­de­ces­sor, Er­ic Williams. To com­mem­o­rate the found­ing fa­ther’s death, Cham­ber’s ded­i­cat­ed the Fi­nan­cial Com­plex (known as Er­ic Williams Fi­nan­cial Com­plex) and the Mount Hope Med­ical Sci­ence Com­plex (known as Er­ic Williams Med­ical Sci­ence Com­plex).

2 Cham­bers con­tin­ued to ho­n­our lo­cal per­son­al­i­ties who had some­how con­tributed to the de­vel­op­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go or brought in­ter­na­tion­al recog­ni­tion.

Au­drey Jef­fers High­way- The for­mer Mu­cu­rapo High­way was re­named af­ter the first fe­male mem­ber of the Leg­isla­tive Coun­cil.

Uri­ah But­ler High­way- named af­ter Tubal Uri­ah ‘Buzz’ But­ler, the founder of the trade union move­ment in T&T. It was orig­i­nal­ly named the Princess Mar­garet high­way but Cham­bers chose to re­name it in 1988.

Chambers at the opening of the U.B Highway 1984, left, Chambers presenting a plaque to Claude Noel, 1981

Claude Noel High­way- The Scar­brough Park­way in To­ba­go was re­named af­ter To­bag­on­ian, World Box­ing cham­pi­on Claude Noel in 1981.

Af­ter a sig­nif­i­cant de­feat at the 1986 gen­er­al elec­tion polls, Cham­bers dis­tanced him­self from po­lit­i­cal life and con­tin­ued hav­ing a very pri­vate life un­til his death in 1997.

Pop­u­lar­ly re­gard­ed as ‘silent’ and ‘hum­ble’, Cham­bers was posthu­mous­ly award­ed the na­tion’s high­est award (The Or­der of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go) in 2012.

Chambers unveils a plaque commemorating the official opening of the Eric Williams Plaza- the twin towers on Independence Square, POS, 1986.

Cham­bers should be re­mem­bered and recog­nised to­day as the leader that en­sured to give recog­ni­tion where recog­ni­tion was due.

Pho­tos Cour­tesy: GML Archives.

Chambers unveils a plaque commemorating the completion of the Mt Hope Medical Complex, 1986