Persons who have played an integral part in the success of the Unity Labour Party (ULP) during their 14 years of governance, were presented with “special gifts” by the party’s political leader Dr Ralph Gonsalves during the 14th anniversary celebrations of the party at the Calliaqua playing field last {{more}}Saturday.

“That is the best way I could think to say in a tangible way, thanks to all those comrades who have helped us in this journey and we have a journey to continue for the next elections between now and the end of March next year,” Gonsalves remarked after distributing the books to past, present candidates and aspirants of the party.

The prime minster told those gathered for the event that the reading materials were taken from his personal library, which he said contained over 10,000 books, all of which he had read and studied.

He said he gave the books to his colleagues, some represented by family members in an effort to inspire and encourage the recipients.

“You got to read.

“And when you read and understand nobody can fool you,” Gonsalves advised.

First to receive a gift was the son of Michael Hamlett, deceased candidate for the East Kingstown constituency. Hamlett died during his campaign bid for the 2001 general elections.

His son Jordan was presented with two publications written by Gonsalves: ‘Our Caribbean Civilization and Its Prospects’, and ‘The Case for Caribbean Reparatory Justice’.

Past parliamentarians and candidates who received publications were Douglas Slater (Civilization, the West and the Rest); Sir Vincent Beache (The Return of George Washington 1783-1789); Glen Beache (Realizing the Development Potential of the Diasporas); Selmon Walters (Israel, Palestine and Terror); Conrad Sayers (David and Goliath); Michael Browne (The Arab Uprising; What Everybody Needs to Know); Cosmos Cozier (The Last Tycoons); Rene Baptiste (Original Intent: The Courts, The Constitution and Religion); Jerrol Thompson (The Third Industrial Revolution: How Lateral Power is Transforming Energy, the Economy and the World); Elvis Charles (Economic Reform Under Presidents Mandela and M’beki); David Browne (Reckless Endangerment) and Michelle Fife (Autobiography of Lord Denim).

The current parliamentarians to receive the autographed books were Julian Francis (GDP: A Brief and Affectionate History); Saboto Caesar (Never Let a Serious Crisis go to Waste); Augustus Stephenson (A New Perspective on Poverty in the Caribbean: the Strength of a Participatory Approach); Montgomery Daniel (World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse); Camillo Gonsalves (A Reflection on the Financial Crisis); Maxwell Charles (A Call to Action); Cecil Mckie (How the World’s Richest Nations Finance Industrial Growth), and Luke Browne (Thinking Fast and Slow).

Persons who are offering and had offered themselves for candidacy, who received books included Dunstan Johnson (A New Few); Herman Belmar (History of the World); Grenville Williams (The Uncensored Story of Britain’s Most Secret Intelligence Agency); Carlos James (The Worldly Philosophers); Jimmy Prince (CARICOM: Policy Options for International Engagement); Berisford Phillips (Winners and How They Succeed); Edwin Snagg (The Origins of Political Order: From Pre-human time to the French revolution) and Debbie Charles (Republic Lost).

During the presentation, the political leader also offered some insight on the correlation between reading and leadership.

“If you want to lead you have to read and you have to write, and you have to write books,” he noted.