SHAL­IZA HAS­SANALI

For­mer Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) min­is­ter Don­na Carter passed away peace­ful­ly at her home in La Guaci­ma, Cos­ta Ri­ca, on Tues­day. Her fu­ner­al mass took place at Jar­dines del Re­cuer­a­do, where she was cre­mat­ed around mid­day and her ash­es will be flown to Trinidad for bur­ial.

In a Face­book post yes­ter­day, for­mer PNM Youth Of­fi­cer Dane Wil­son alert­ed the pub­lic about Carter’s death

Trade and In­dus­try Min­is­ter Paula Gopee-Scoon de­scribed, Carter, 73, as a pa­tri­ot who was keen­ly in­ter­est­ed in the de­vel­op­ment of the coun­try.

“She was a ded­i­cat­ed work­er who al­ways put coun­try first. She would have been very con­sci­en­tious in car­ry­ing out her du­ties. We are sad to hear of her pass­ing and ex­tend our con­do­lences to her fam­i­ly. We want to thank her fam­i­ly for the com­mit­ted ser­vices she gave both to the PNM and Trinidad and To­ba­go,” she said.

In 2008, Carter, a long stand­ing mem­ber of the PNM, was ap­point­ed High Com­mis­sion­er to South Africa, but fell ill. Ex­ter­nal Af­fairs’ Chief of Pro­to­col Carl Fran­cis was sent to South Africa to act as en­voy in her place.

“I worked with her for a lim­it­ed pe­ri­od. Af­ter be­ing ap­point­ed to the post of com­mis­sion­er she be­came very ill while on the job and we knew that would have kept back her pace of ac­tiv­i­ty,” Gopee-Scoon re­called.

She said Carter even­tu­al­ly mi­grat­ed to Cos­ta Ri­ca where she be­gan re­cu­per­at­ing.

For­mer PNM’s gen­er­al coun­cil mem­ber Louis Lee Sing said Carter was a key com­po­nent in Man­ning’s Cab­i­net.

“I have long ar­gued that the Cab­i­net of which Carter was part was one of the best the coun­try has ever seen. It’s un­for­tu­nate to hear the pass­ing of peo­ple who have made a valu­able con­tri­bu­tion to our coun­try. For me, it’s a loss for Trinidad and To­ba­go. She was a good sol­dier. I know she will be missed.”

In 2000, Carter, an ac­tive mem­ber of the PNM’s Women League, con­test­ed the St Joseph seat but was de­feat­ed by Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress can­di­date Car­los John. The fol­low­ing year, Man­ning ap­point­ed her Min­is­ter in the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter re­spon­si­ble for Ec­cle­si­as­ti­cal Af­fairs.

Carter, a for­mer teacher, al­so served as a Gov­ern­ment sen­a­tor.

She is sur­vived by her hus­band John Hunt.