EDITORIAL - Remembering George Price

It is quite in character of the man that while acknowledged, his death, except in his native Belize, has been of no apparent great public notice or moment. George Price, we suspect, would have wanted it no other way.

But it would be wrong to assume that this persona was the sum of the man, who died on Monday, aged 92. For as the Belizean prime minister, Mr Dean Barrow, remarked, Mr Price was "a giant of a man, the greatest architect of Belizean nationalism and Belizean independence".

Indeed, Mr Price was among the last of that generation of pre-independence Caribbean nationalists who guided their countries from British colonial rule to statehood, except that in his case, Belize is on the mainland of Central America and used to be called British Honduras.

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Most of the basic facts about George Price are well known: that he entered politics in 1947 when he ran for and won a seat on the Belize City Council; that he was a founding member, in 1950, of the People's United Party (PUP); that he led Belize to independence in 1981; served two terms as prime minister (1981-84 and 1989-1993); that in 1998, aged 80, he served in the Cabinet of the man who succeeded him as PUP leader; and that in 2000 he was declared a national hero of Belize.

But mere facts do not portray the essential element of the man that marked him as different from the average politician, including many of his contemporaries across the Caribbean. He lived his decency and it invaded his governance.

Known for his trademark white guayabera and dark slacks, Price, who entered, but left the seminary, was part Aquinas, part Jesuit and fully human and Belizean. As prime minister, he lived in a simple single-room home, drove an old Land Rover and was in the thick of things with people, whether it was in Belize's capital of Belmopan; or, as was the case in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, strolling the streets outside his hotel in the evening during a summit of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders.

Worth much honour

That lack of affectation and committed simplicity was real. It makes sense that during his long, up-and-down political career, no scandal or claim of corruption was attached to Mr Price.

But this asceticism masked, perhaps, what underpinned a strong will and determination, reflected in his country's independence, despite the threats of military-ruled Guatemala and his rooting of Belize firmly in the brotherhood of CARICOM nations.

George Price would, perhaps, be quite content to have passed his time without fanfare, unconcerned with whether he was remembered, once he had done what he was convinced was right.

He, happily, won't totally control this one. Too many people are aware that Mr Price is, even in stillness, worth remembering and celebrating.