Everybody can’t get a state funeral – Gonsalves

A policy is in place to determine whether someone is given a state or an official funeral.

“Everybody can’t get a state funeral,” Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves told SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday.{{more}}

“There is a policy; at first there was a certain amorphous kind of a thing you know, a hangover from an earlier periods, but basically it’s heads of state, heads of government and senior ministers of a particular long standing and like if the chief justice is a Vincentian, you know, things like that,” he explained.

Leader of the Opposition Arnhim Eustace had, earlier on Wednesday, questioned why Carl Joseph, a former Attorney-General under the Sir James Mitchell led New Democratic Party, was not being granted a state funeral today, Friday.

Eustace made comparisons with Glen Jackson, former press secretary to the Prime Minister, whose funeral in 2006 had a price tag of about $100,000 and was paid for by the state.

“It is a fact that we paid for Glen Jackson’s funeral, but I, as Minister of Finance and Prime Minister, exercised my discretion so to do, because A, he was my press secretary and B, the violent circumstances in which he met his death,” Gonsalves told SEARCHLIGHT, adding that Jackson did not receive a state funeral.

The Prime Minister noted that Jackson’s body was viewed at the Peace Memorial Hall and not at the Parliament building, as is the custom at a state funeral.

“Is it everybody who serves for a particular period of time, they must get a state funeral? But this is the point, where do you cut it off?”

The Prime Minister said Joseph will be given an official funeral, which has associated with it the police band, the courtesies of the Government Printery and state protocol officers who are made available to assist.

He further stated that with an official funeral, the family makes the funeral arrangements and decides who does the eulogy and tributes, while at a state funeral the family and the state have to determine these factors jointly.

At an official funeral the family pays the expenses, while the Government pays for a state funeral.

The Prime Minister stated that there is a manufactured controversy around the question of whether Joseph should have a state or official funeral. He said Joseph was an Attorney-General and a Minister of Government for a short period of time.

“He’s not a minister of long standing; he’s not a former prime minister or governor general… if [Justice Frederick] Bruce-Lyle didn’t get a state funeral, how could Carl Joseph get one,” he quipped. (AS)