PM Kamla, Rowley to attend Mandela funeral

Prime Minister Kamla Persad- Bissessar on Friday invited opposition leader Keith Rowley and his wife, Sharon, to accompany her to the funeral of Nelson Mandela on December 15. Rowley has accepted the invitation.

She made the announcement in parliament and also stated that she would declare a date next year to be observed as Mandela Day in Trinidad and Tobago.

There will also be a public symposium on the life and work of South African freedom fighter who became South Afriuca's first black president. She said local scholars and historians, including Prof. Kenneth Ramchand, would coordinate the event.

Persad-Bissessar also made tribute Friday to two local icons - Michael Als and Emmanuel McDonald Bailey.

Read the tributes: Mc Donald Bailey, Michael Als dead

The Prime Minister was the first MP to pay tribute to Mandela. She spoke of the inspiration she got from watching the film, Invictus, which was based on Mandela’s relationship with South Africa's mainly white rugby team. He urged South Africans to support the team, which won the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

“It was so inspiring,” Persad-Bissessar said, adding that she instructred her cabinet to watch it together.

Rowley endorsed Persad-Bissessar's sentiments about Mandela’s extraordinary work and character. "f there is anything that we should take from Mandela’s legacy, it is the appreciation and role of this thing called freedom in our own existence, because without it, we may not recognise ourselves. Thank you, Nelson Mandela,” Rowley stated.