Seven Chief Ministers – MONTSERRAT is a 75-page volume commissioned by the Legislature department of Montserrat, authored by Howard A. Fergus KBE, PhD, Montserrat’s own renowned author and poet.
Seven-Chief-Ministers-book-cover
As described on the cover about Dr. Fergus, he is a retired Professor of Eastern Caribbean Studies from the University of the West Indies. He has written over twenty books and monographs on history, literature and education including several volumes of poetry.
This book follows his Festival at Fifty, a study in Montserratian Christmas culture, and Obama and Other Poems were published in 2012.
The Hon. Teresina Bodkin, Speaker of the new Montserrat Legislative Assembly explained at the launch of the book on December 18, 2013, how it came about. “The book (project),” she said, “began about three or four years ago, intended mainly for the generations that are coming up and those to come.”
She said: “We were looking that some sad events took place and a number of our legislators including a very popular Chief Minister, passed away and particularly in the case of other legislators we had a difficulty in terms of finding material which provided information as to their accomplishments. It was made even more difficult by the fact that most of Montserrat’s population who would have been around to experience and to observe their accomplishments were no longer here and finding them, were sometimes impossible.”
“And so the website profiles then evolved into this book,” she concluded.
The purpose and aim she said, “is our sincerest hope that persons who take up a copy of this book will somehow be inspired by the accomplishments of those who have gone before and who then may wish to take up the mantle to do some of the same and to live and sustain the legacy.”
“Seven Chief Ministers MONTSERRAT – Sixty Years of Parliamentary Governance 1951-2013” profiles the seven persons who have held the top political leadership positions in Montserrat and evaluate their accomplishments while in office.
The Seven Chief Ministers include the current Premier who served as Chief Minister from 1991 – 96, and again briefly from 2009 – 10. They are: W.H. Bramble, Austin A. Bramble, John A. Osborne, Reuben T. Meade, Bertrand B. Osborne, David S. Brand and Dr. Lowell Lewis,
Book-launch
At the launch in December, copies of the book were presented by Speaker Bodkin to the Chief Ministers or their representatives, David Brandt and Reuben Meade being the only ones alive present to receive on their own behalf.
While the Hon. Bodkin is hoping that the recently published book by the Department of Legislature will serve to inspire the readers to take on leadership roles, in the Foreword it reminds of why Montserrat must take the time to document its historical experiences.
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