Governor General Sir Colville Young has announced that he is stepping down. In a letter to the Prime Minister he announces that he is stepping down on April 30, 2021.
This comes after some months of uncertainty about whether the 88 year old's age had somewhat diminished his ability to carry out his functions as head of state. His family, in consultation with his doctors had said publicly that they felt it was time he stepped aside, and he has.
Today, the PM discussed his departure:
Hon. John Briceno- Prime Minister
"I am very grateful to the unselfish service that the Governor General gave to this country and I am hopeful that all of us can use him as an example, just like the father of the nation, what service to the people is all about."
Reporter
"Sir, who will be his replacement."
Hon. John Briceno
"We have not decided that at this time."
Jules Vasquez - Reporter
"I heard a Channel 7 report that it will be an indigenous woman. Is that something that you all are looking at?"
Hon. John Briceno
"We are looking, let me finish with this. You know that we came into a platform to empower more women and so I will leave you with this that yes we are looking at trying to identify a woman of substance that can try to fill in the shoes of the present Governor General because that is going to be a tough job to follow up."
But, in the letter, the GG also says the Prime Minister made the request to him in a meeting on March 15th. We asked the head of government about the delicate dealing with the head of state:
Jules Vasquez - Reporter
"Explain to me how you handle this tough and sensitive matter?"
Hon. John Briceno- Prime Minister
"Well, I will not discuss the discussion I had with the Governor General. What I will tell you is that I have great respect and admiration and love for the Governor General. He has served us well and we need to be, as a nation, grateful for the work that he has done. Now, what we are supposed to be ashamed of as a Government, since Dame Minita Gordon, is the way we have treated our Governor Generals. I mean, if you look at what the salary that the present Governor General is getting, I mean it is shameful for the head of state to be paid $4,000 a month. It is shameful that the Governor General does not have health insurance. It is shameful that the pension that he will get is going to be a pittance. Now, we have said that that needs to be fixed, despite the fact that we are going through tough economic times right now, we are going to fix it."
We will know who the new GG is later this month.
