Kamla, Rowley pay tribute to former Suriname president

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar and for­mer prime min­is­ters Dr Kei­th Row­ley and Stu­art Young yes­ter­day ex­tend­ed con­do­lences fol­low­ing the death of for­mer Suri­name pres­i­dent Chan­drikaper­sad San­tokhi, pay­ing trib­ute to his ser­vice and lead­er­ship.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar ex­tend­ed con­do­lences on be­half of the Gov­ern­ment and cit­i­zens.

Not­ing San­tokhi’s ser­vice to his coun­try, she said, “In this mo­ment of loss, I join with the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go in ho­n­our­ing his life and ser­vice, and in stand­ing in sol­i­dar­i­ty with the peo­ple of Suri­name. His lega­cy of pub­lic ser­vice, dis­ci­pline, and com­mit­ment to na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment will en­dure and will re­dound to the ben­e­fit of his coun­try and the wider re­gion for years to come. May his fam­i­ly find com­fort, and may his soul rest in eter­nal peace.”

In a Face­book post, Row­ley said he wished to ex­tend his “deep­est con­do­lences to the fam­i­ly, friends, and the peo­ple of Suri­name” on San­tokhi’s pass­ing.

He said San­tokhi’s con­tri­bu­tions to na­tion­al de­vel­op­ment would be re­mem­bered with “re­spect and grat­i­tude.”

“His life of ser­vice and ded­i­ca­tion to his na­tion will be re­mem­bered with re­spect and grat­i­tude. May his soul rest in eter­nal peace, and may his lega­cy con­tin­ue to in­spire gen­er­a­tions to come,” Row­ley said.

In a sep­a­rate Face­book post, Young al­so con­veyed con­do­lences to those af­fect­ed by San­tokhi’s death.

“I con­vey my sin­cere con­do­lences to the peo­ple of Suri­name, and in par­tic­u­lar to the fam­i­ly and friends of, HE Chan­drikaper­sad San­tokhi, for­mer Pres­i­dent of Suri­name, on his pass­ing. May his soul rest in eter­nal peace and may God bless you all with strength and com­fort at this time,” Young said.

San­tokhi served as Pres­i­dent of Suri­name and re­mained a promi­nent po­lit­i­cal fig­ure in the coun­try, earn­ing recog­ni­tion across the re­gion for his lead­er­ship.

Cur­rent Suri­name Pres­i­dent Jen­nifer Greel­ings-Si­mons yes­ter­day said the coun­try will re­mem­ber the many years of ser­vice San­tokhi pro­vid­ed to the coun­try.

San­tokhi, 67, died at the Aca­d­e­m­ic Hos­pi­tal in the cap­i­tal, where he had been tak­en af­ter a med­ical emer­gency at home.

“His many years of ser­vice in var­i­ous pub­lic of­fices will be re­mem­bered,” Pres­i­dent Greel­ings-Si­mons said in a state­ment on so­cial me­dia.

San­tokhi held the pres­i­den­cy dur­ing the 2020-2025 term and pre­vi­ous­ly served as Min­is­ter of Jus­tice and Po­lice from 2005-2010.

“His years of ded­i­ca­tion in var­i­ous pub­lic of­fices will be re­mem­bered. The gov­ern­ment ex­press­es its sin­cere con­do­lences to the sur­viv­ing rel­a­tives, fam­i­ly, friends, fel­low par­ty mem­bers, and every­one af­fect­ed by this loss. It wish­es them much strength and for­ti­tude dur­ing this dif­fi­cult time. May his soul rest in peace,” Greel­ings-Si­mons said.

San­tokhi was al­so chair­man of the main op­po­si­tion Pro­gres­sive Re­form Par­ty (VHP).

Me­dia re­ports said emer­gency ser­vices were called around noon, af­ter which San­tokhi was trans­port­ed to the Emer­gency Room of the Aca­d­e­m­ic Hos­pi­tal. The cause of his ill­ness and death has not yet been re­leased.