Late for­mer Fyz­abad MP Arthur Sander­son was a man whose life epit­o­mised the phrase “coun­try be­fore par­ty” and some­one who left an in­deli­ble mark on the lives of many and his beloved com­mu­ni­ty.

These were among the ac­co­lades be­stowed on Sander­son by Gov­ern­ment and Op­po­si­tion in Par­lia­ment yes­ter­day. Trade union leader, coun­cil­lor, po­lice of­fi­cer and MP, Sander­son was well known in pol­i­tics as the Na­tion­al Al­liance for Re­con­struc­tion MP for Fyz­abad. He died on No­vem­ber 26. Par­lia­men­tar­i­ans yes­ter­day ob­served a minute’s si­lence as trib­ute.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Min­is­ter Symon de No­bri­ga said, “Arthur Sander­son epit­o­mised the phrase ‘coun­try be­fore par­ty’ as his po­lit­i­cal lin­eage spanned not one, not two, but three po­lit­i­cal par­ties, al­ways de­sir­ing noth­ing more than to serve the peo­ple.

“His jour­ney from com­mu­ni­ty ac­tivism, to trade union­ism to rep­re­sen­ta­tion­al pol­i­tics en­cap­su­lates a life ded­i­cat­ed to the ser­vice of oth­ers. His lega­cy re­mains not on­ly in po­lit­i­cal mile­stones but al­so in tan­gi­ble de­vel­op­ments, en­riched lives, and strength­ened com­mu­ni­ty bonds. Arthur’s sto­ry is a tes­ta­ment to the trans­for­ma­tive pow­er of ded­i­ca­tion, vi­sion, and a deep un­der­stand­ing of the im­por­tance of both com­mu­ni­ty and fam­i­ly.

“While Mr Sander­son’s so­journ in T&T’s pol­i­tics saw him tra­verse many po­lit­i­cal par­ties, he even­tu­al­ly came home to the PNM, and was the Ed­u­ca­tion Of­fi­cer for Par­ty Group 1 in Fyz­abad con­stituen­cy and a rep­re­sen­ta­tive to the con­stituen­cy group, be­ing elect­ed to both po­si­tions dur­ing the 2022 In­ter­nal Elec­tions. He served as a mem­ber of past ex­ec­u­tives in PNM Fyz­abad con­stituen­cy, and was even a 2002 Gen­er­al Elec­tion can­di­date for the PNM, amass­ing 8, 017 votes but un­for­tu­nate­ly los­ing to Chan­dresh Shar­ma,” he said.

De No­bri­ga added, “Even as he bowed out of ac­tive pol­i­tics, Arthur nev­er stopped cam­paign­ing for the im­prove­ment in the qual­i­ty of life of the peo­ple of Fyz­abad...Such was his im­pact that up­on his death, per­sons from across the po­lit­i­cal di­vide were unan­i­mous both in their praise for a life well lived, and for the mag­na­nim­i­ty that Mr Sander­son al­ways demon­strat­ed. His love was for peo­ple first, re­gard­less of their po­lit­i­cal af­fil­i­a­tion.”

Fyz­abad MP Dr Lack­ram Bo­doe said the many trib­utes at Sander­son’s fu­ner­al last Mon­day were tes­ti­mo­ny to a man who had left an in­deli­ble mark on the lives of many and on the soul of his beloved com­mu­ni­ty.

“Mr Sander­son had been known as an ad­vo­cate for his com­mu­ni­ty and was com­mit­ted to so­cial jus­tice. He was part of the 1986 team that achieved a his­toric vic­to­ry to re­move the long-stand­ing PNM gov­ern­ment... He was al­so a pas­sion­ate ad­vo­cate for the avail­abil­i­ty and ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty of wa­ter for his con­stituen­cy by over­see­ing the lay­ing of pipelines. He even marched to Port-of-Spain to ad­vo­cate for wa­ter for all.”

Bo­doe said in 1991, af­ter demit­ting of­fice, Sander­son re­mained a pow­er­ful voice in Fyz­abad.

“His cre­ation of the Sander­son Her­itage Park was his vi­sion of an oa­sis for re­lax­ation and a niche for eco­tourism. Arthur Sander­son wasn’t just a res­i­dent of Fyz­abad - he was part of its heart­beat, one of the dri­ving forces be­hind pos­i­tive change, and an ad­vo­cate for those whose voic­es of­ten went un­heard.”

House Speak­er Bridgid An­nisette- George, said Sander­son, was known for his com­mit­ment to Fyz­abad and for be­ing a tire­less ad­vo­cate in the pur­suit of so­cial jus­tice.

“Mr Sander­son has es­tab­lished him­self as a promi­nent ac­tivist who took great pride in self­less­ly giv­ing yeo­man’s ser­vice to his com­mu­ni­ty be­fore, dur­ing, and af­ter his time as a par­lia­men­tar­i­an.”