ormer Prime Min­is­ter Bas­deo Pan­day has passed away.

This was con­firmed by his daugh­ter Mick­ela Pan­day this evening.

In a post to so­cial me­dia she said, “ With deep sor­row, we would like to share that our lov­ing hus­band and fa­ther, Bas­deo Pan­day passed away on 1st Jan­u­ary 2024, sur­round­ed by his fam­i­ly. In life and death he was a fight­er. He passed with his boots on, keep­ing every­body around him on their toes with his wit and hu­mour. He will live on in all of us, re­mem­bered as a won­der­ful hus­band, fa­ther, grand­fa­ther, leader, and friend. He was an in­spi­ra­tion to his fam­i­ly and every­body that knew him. We will con­tin­ue to cel­e­brate his life and trea­sure the time we were able to spend with him.

Pan­day was Trinidad and To­ba­go’s fifth prime min­is­ter serv­ing from 1995-2001.

He was the leader of the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress up to 2010 when he was re­placed by Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar.

Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar sent trib­utes on Face­book say­ing, “I am sad­dened that Mr Pan­day has passed away. I will al­ways love him and be grate­ful that he was a sig­nif­i­cant in­flu­ence in my life.

He was a great leader and spent most years of his life help­ing the op­pressed and poor. Mr Pan­day will al­ways be re­mem­bered with love and ado­ra­tion by all of us whose lives he touched.

I ex­press my con­do­lences to all his loved ones.

May his soul rest in peace. He will be missed but will al­ways be re­mem­bered and loved.”

Prime Min­is­ter Row­ley al­so sent con­do­lences say­ing, “It is with sad­ness that I re­ceived the news to­day that the ac­tor, Lawyer, Labour leader and Politi­cian that was Bas­deo Pan­day has passed on.

This is a man, a cit­i­zen, whose im­pact was felt at every step of the way as he made his mark so in­deli­bly on the peo­ple of our na­tion. Hav­ing served the na­tion for so long and in so many dif­fer­ent ways, with such re­solve and panache, he can on­ly be rec­og­nized as a true be­liev­er in this na­tion and its po­ten­tial.

Now that he is no more, we are called up­on not just to mourn but to cel­e­brate his life and en­deav­our to be wor­thy col­leagues of his lega­cy.

My con­do­lences to his fam­i­ly, friends, and col­leagues.

Pres­i­dent Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo said she was “deeply sad­dened” by the death.

“Union leader, politi­cian, states­man, hus­band and fa­ther, Mr. Pan­day, though diminu­tive in stature was a gi­ant of a man who led this coun­try with pas­sion and com­pas­sion.