STATEMENT FROM THE HON. MIA AMOR MOTTLEY, S.C., M.P., PRIME MINISTER

ON THE PASSING OF FORMER MP ANDERSON “PEANUTS” MORRISON

During my near 35 years as a parliamentarian, I have come across a number of Barbadians who, while remaining faithful to the political party to which they belonged, never allowed it to compromise their spirit of humanity or their love of country.

Anderson “Peanuts” Morrison was one such person, and his passing yesterday touched me deeply, as I have benefited from those qualities that he so naturally displayed.

I shared my first term in Parliament from 1991 to 1994 as a member of the Senate with “Peanuts”. He was decent to the core, a gentleman, the genuine embodiment of a salt of the earth Bajan, and I will be forever grateful for all that he taught me.

Despite our political differences, he being a member of the Democratic Labour Party while I was a member of the Barbados Labour Party, it did not once stop him from offering guidance to me in those early years. And it was not just that he offered guidance on parliamentary rules and procedures, but on matters of real politics — the issues that so often determine our success as politicians.

I will forever be indebted to him, because I recognise even back then in those early years that he did not treat me as a political opponent, but as a young Barbadian politician who could benefit from his guidance.

Peanuts Morrison, like so many who entered the political arena in post-Independence Barbados, was no high-flyer. In fact, he was an ordinary mid-level public officer who ran on a DLP ticket in 1971 and managed to unseat one of the most promising young BLP members at the time, Harold “Bree” St. John, later Sir Harold.

His story ought always to remind us not to minimise the worth or potential of any member of any team of which we are a part, because we all have a contribution to make. Whether as a member of the House of Assembly, the Senate, in the role of Minister of Agriculture or as a Parliamentary Secretary, he served his country with all that he had to offer.

On behalf of the Government and people of Barbados, I extend sincere condolence to the family and friends of Anderson “Peanuts” Morrison, as well as to the DLP family.

May his soul rest in peace and rise in Glory.