Robinson’s legacy

Those are the words which during his lifetime went some way toward immortalising, at least in the eyes of the Trinidad and Tobago citizenry, the late ANR Robinson. Today, now that he is gone, we say he will be remembered for those words; they embodied everything that was remarkable about him: his courage over his convictions, his strength, as well as his single-minded belief in the central place of democracy over tyranny. Of Robinson, the Commission of Inquiry into the events of 1990, in its final report submitted last month remarked, “Prime Minister Robinson (was) the victim of extreme brutality. Mr Robinson’s instruction to the security forces to ‘attack with full force’ was an exceedingly defiant and courageous display of leadership in the face of vicious criminals.”

Robinson himself would later remark, in his autobiography In the Midst of It, that he had narrowly escaped death and had given himself up to God.

“My doctors told me afterwards that if it had gone half an inch differently, it would have severed the main artery and my life would have gone in a matter of minutes,” he wrote. “When I surmised I was going to be shot, I entrusted myself to God and said my last prayer. I told God to receive me and do with me whatever he willed. I was ready for whatever the end would be.” He died yesterday morning and Trinidad and Tobago mourned.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the Prime Minister, called him “a true national hero” and “one of our nation’s outstanding sons”. PNM political leader Dr Keith Rowley said the country lost, “one of its finest citizens”. A former President, George Maxwell-Richards, said he was, “a great statesman” and a man of great “integrity and intellect”.

Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson, was born on 16 December, 1926, to Isabella and James Robinson in Calder Hall, Tobago, and grew up in the village of Castara. The boy from Castara became the third President and the third Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the first chairman of the restored Tobago House of Assembly (THA).

In 1951 he was admitted to St John’s College, Oxford, to read for the bachelor’s degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, and admitted as a senior student. He was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1954. Robinson returned to the country in 1955 and was admitted to practice as a barrister, later entering politics.

In 1961, Robinson married Patricia Jean Rawlins and eventually fathered two children — David and Ann-Margaret. He was also the grand-father of Anuska. Of his late wife Patricia, he had once remarked, “The story has not been told. Patricia, my wife, made an enormous contribution in laying the financial foundation for establishing the independence of our country.”

In politics Robinson was a founding member of the PNM and NAR and would throughout a long career play kingmaker. As President, appointed to that post under the UNC administration of Prime Minister Basdeo Panday, he made a highly controversial decision to appoint Patrick Manning as Prime Minister during the 18-18 tie of 2001. Robinson, born Methodist, but later a convert to Catholicism in order to marry his wife, said he chose on the basis of “moral and spiritual values”, enraging a diverse population. More than any other President, Robinson also tested the limits of the power of the President, a post regarded by most as ceremonial within a democratic society. Robinson refused to sign acts until he received assurances and once refused to appoint senators nominated by Panday. This legacy of being an activist President is the inverse, then, of his moment in 1990. Still Robinson is credited for playing a role in many other innovations, such as the establishment of the International Criminal Court, a nascent body which places international criminals on trial.

This was a man of courage and love, devoted to his family, but also his nation. There were high-points and low points, but nobody here is likely to forget ANR Robinson. “His legacy lives on,” former President Richards remarked. While he called for a frontal attack in 1990, now is the time for him to rest, at last, in peace.