By Kobie Broomes on Tuesday, 18 August, 2020 at 11:06 AM

It was a state funeral with a mixture of pomp and pageantry and the simple things in life that Owen Arthur enjoyed.

The near six-hour exercise started at the Lyndhurst funeral home, Passage Road St. Michael and ended at the Mount Pleasant Memorial Gardens, St. Peter a 26-acre cemetery.

The statesman made his final journey passing a number of places where his legacy was created, The Barbados Labour Party Headquarters, Parliament Buildings where the procession paused for one minute, Kensington Oval and finally his childhood family home in St. Peter.

The 70-year-old Arthur, served as Prime Minister between 1994 and 2008, was given a sent off which had the associated elements of state funeral but honouring a lot of wishes.

Often regarded as the people’s prime minister, he wanted to be among the people. The COVID-19 pandemic may have somewhat marred his request, but ministerial coordinator and successor in the constituency of St. Peter, Minister of Labour Colin Jordan said they put as many of his wishes as practically possible into place. One of them included his body lying in state at the Parliament Buildings on Wednesday and Thursday. However, with a closed casket, draped with the Barbados flag.

In paying tribute to Arthur at the church service, Prime Minister Mia Mottley reflected on her “mentor” and political predecessor, saying, “there is no one who has ever met Owen Arthur who could ignore his presence”.

“He was fiercely competitive, whether in politics or dominoes or cricket. This should be no surprise to us for his initial defeat by one vote was quickly transformed into a victory and the start of a distinguished parliamentary sojourn in the House of Assembly,” she said.

While adding that the Economist was “consumed by politics and policy”. 

Mottley reminisced on how Arthur stoutly defended Barbados against the United States during his tenure and was what she called a voice for the small economies in the region.  

“He spoke truth to power, fought for fairness of treatment and stood firm on principle.  Indeed, his advocacy for our rights and interests extended far beyond Barbados to embrace small states everywhere. This was perhaps best exemplified in the way he responded head-on to the unwarranted OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) challenge to our financial services sector. Instinctively and strategically, he knew when and where and how loud to raise his voice, and, to this day, his peers in the cause still remember him with admiration for leading the charge on their behalf,” Mottley said.