Loyal son The Most Honourable Jeffrey Davidson Bostic was installed as the second President of Barbados in a ceremony marked by a call for Barbadians to renew their love for country and the revelation of President’s awards to give young people a helping hand.
On a day when the new Head of State was the focus of tributes, he, in his first Independence Day speech, flipped the attention to ordinary Barbadians – community-spirited figures from his nearby childhood neighbourhood of Chapman Lane, The City, his former school Combermere and those from the military who had a hand in shaping his future.
His installation at Kensington Oval formed part of the Independence And Republic Day Ceremonial Parade And National Awards Ceremony in which legendary cricketer Joel Garner, Governor of the Central Bank Dr Kevin Greenidge and Dr Kurt Anderson Lambert, financial expert and philanthropist, were conferred with the country’s highest honour, Order Of Freedom Of Barbados. A similar honorary designation also went to Professor Benedict Oramah, retired chairman of the African Export-Import Bank, for his strategic leadership in expanding trade and investment among member states of the bank.
Hundreds turned out to support
Bostic, dapper in a sky blue two-piece suit by local designer Rosca MacDonald, took the oath of office at 8:05 a.m., watched by specially invited overseas guests – His Majesty Abdullah II, King of Jordan; Prime Minister of Guyana, Brigadier Mark Phillips; retired Major Samuel Mbugua of Kenya, and retired Captain Errol Stewart of Jamaica – colleagues from his days at the world-renowned Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, Leader of the Opposition Ralph Thorne, Chief Justice The Most Honourable Leslie Haynes and President of the Senate The Most Honourable Reginald Farley joined hundreds at the Oval, online and on television for the occasion.
Two minutes after the oath, a cheer erupted for the declaration of President Bostic with the Mass Choir serenading with the classic Methodist hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness, a nod to his patriotic journey to the office.
“The Office of the President is my current destination, and I am immensely proud to serve my country at the highest level, but my focus this morning and throughout my tenure is the journey that brought me here – from Chapman Lane to State House.
“I stand before you today not as a son of privilege, but as a son shaped by this City, from modest beginnings to achievements I could scarcely have imagined; not as a man of rank, but as a man of duty; not as a politician, but as the son of our enduring republic,” President Bostic told the audience on a warm clear day interrupted only by a brief shower of rain.
He articulated the plan for each year: to present the twin awards of the Chapman Challenge; the Anchor Award to a mentor, and the Hillaby Award to the young challenger who overcame the odds.
“This is my promise to you: if you are willing to climb, we will provide the rope. From the Lane to Hillaby. The philosophy of this mission is simple. It is written in the very geography of our island. My own journey began on the flat, humble pavement of Chapman Lane. Our national motto for this mission
shall be: From the Lane to Hillaby,” he said.
The Head of State, with his 89-year-old visiting father Basil Antrobus present, expressed “deepest and dearest gratitude” to his family, including his children and grandchildren who “sacrificed and suffered the most on the many occasions when national duty required me to be absent from them, the ones who had to share me with the country we all love”.
His deep regret was that the “mortal architect of my journey”, his mother Sheila Marita Bostic, “the greatest domestic economist”, never saw him enter Parliament or State House.
“I can still hear your voice saying, ‘This is all I have to give you today so try and make it do’; or hear you during the late hours of the night saying, ‘Lord, what am I going to cook tomorrow?’ I know it was a struggle to get me through secondary school, but the resilience I now have, I found in you. You are not here but you are always with me and will be with me as I climb these new stairs,” Bostic said in reference to his mother.
Even so, he had an exhaustive list of those who helped him along the way, including the matriarch of the district Violet Brewster who was involved in both his church and community life, and who administered “the rod of correction” to him, the midwife, the first person to hold him.
There was also Orville Clarke “De Shoemekker”, who resoled his shoes each school year; teacher Kenneth Hinds who gave him free private lessons; barber Fred and community activist Reverend Chesterfield Morgan, caretaker of a club that offered opportunities in sports, arts and skills training, and for whom he made a pitch for the Emmerton Community Centre to be renamed.
Earlier, the President had conducted an inspection of the troops in a reversal of roles from his Cadet days at Combermere. He was generous in his praise of father figure, retired Colonel Deighton Maynard, and Major Patrick Skeete, sentiments extended to retired Brigadier Sir Rudyard Lewis, and Colonels Florence Gittens, Harold Blackman and Owen Springer, among others.
From his political life, he singled out former Prime Minister Owen Arthur, under whose leadership he entered elective politics in 2008 and eventually represented the City of Bridgetown from 2013 to 2022; Dame Billie Miller, who also once represented The City; and Mottley and members of her administration “for shepherding me through the years in Opposition and in Cabinet” when he was Minister of Health.
He also thanked former Prime Minister Freundel Stuart and his administration for the “many engagements on and off the floor of Parliament”, as well as the Speakers and Clerk of Parliament. (AC)
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