No ordinary politician

IN LIFE as in death, Comrade Easton W. X. Douglas was a man in charge of his own destiny; he simply lived life his way.

To know him was to know a man who epitomises dignity, sagacity, loyalty. Easton’s wisdom derived from his vast experiences, which built a storehouse of knowledge in a wide scope of activities in government, private sector and in life generally.

As his Cabinet colleague, I had an opportunity to not only work with him but to observe Easton at his best, standing up for the principles, policies and causes for which he lived and fought. He was a man of the people and stayed close to the people at all levels of society, but especially the vulnerable and marginalised in our society. He was no ordinary politician!

He came to politics from the professions, having been a town planner who reached the apogee of his profession in becoming a permanent secretary in the civil service, before turning his tremendous technical ability to politics as a way of directing policy. He was a politician who was not simply involved in politics for politics sake, but saw politics as an instrument to affect the lives of the people.

He was able to affect, in a positive way, the lives of the many persons he touched, especially in the housing and squatter settlement areas in which he was able to bring to bear his encyclopaedic knowledge to impact such programmes as the Operation PRIDE project. In this arena, he was not a man who courted controversy but did not shirk from challenges as they arise, as he was supremely confident in his abilities to defend his actions through principled conduct.

I will always remember Easton as a stalwart

of the People’s National Party, someone who I was always proud to enter upon the electoral battle field with, knowing that you had a true soldier alongside you to watch your back and to fight the good fight. He was successful at what he did as a member of parliament because he cared deeply for those he represented, and they in turn loved him for loving them.

I was proud to have served with him and to have benefited from his store of knowledge as a young member of the PNP. I remember well his acts of kindness and encouragement to me personally, and to the group of the younger members entering the PNP in the early 1990s.

WISE COUNSEL

However, I was most privileged to be the beneficiary of his wise counsel and prodigious knowledge when he agreed to serve on the task force on National Development and Planning with NHT, which I have the honour of chairing. The other task force members were enlightened in listening to Easton waxing lyrical on his pet subjects of National Physical Planning and Housing. He was still giving of himself and sharing his tremendous knowledge on these subject areas, while still giving to his party and the people even in illhealth and failing energies.

I am pleased and proud that he answered my call to stand shoulder to shoulder with us and to take his final stand. We have accomplished much in the taskforce under his guidance and tremendous display of love of country and party.

To his daughter Kari, brother Conrad, and to the rest of his family, I send sincere condolences on behalf of my own family and the other members of the task force with whom he served. Walk good, Easton!

ANTHONY HYLTON