CATEGORY:REMEMBRANCE
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By Trevor Thwaites, Inside Grenada correspondent
Monday October 23, 2006


GRENADA – Twenty-three years after being brutally murdered in a coup within the People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG), mother and sister and indeed the family of slain Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop, are still hopeful that the remains of their loved one will be found, so that he can be given a decent burial and bring some closure to the tragic events experienced here on October 19 1983, when Bishop and some of his cabinet colleagues were assassinated in a bloody coup by their comrades.

As nationals reflected on the terrible events last week Thursday, the mother of former Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, Mrs. Alimenta Bishop, and Sister Ann, are still hurt and saddened by the assassination of Maurice. The grief and pain have been exacerbated by the fact that the remains of the former Prime Minister have not being found to afford him a decent burial. “Every time the observance comes around, it aggravates my sorrow. Nobody can tell me about the whereabouts of the body. It is very frustrating”, Mrs Bishop told reporters.

She has again called on the authorities to provide her with the necessary information so that she can retrieve the remains of her son, which, she says has not been forthcoming over the years. Alimenta is very disappointed because she said that efforts by Maurice’s daughter Nadia, who have made several journeys here in her quest to find the remains, have proven futile. “I have been asking them for the body; but they have not been taking me on. Somebody must know where the body is. I am just fed up”, an emotional Alimenta said.

“I thought by now, the memories will be fading but every time, around October, the memories seem to come back fresh every year. I even cry as though it has just happened”, said sister of Maurice, Ann Bishop. “Maurice was a brother, a friend and confidante”, she added. However, 23 years after the tragic events that led to the death of her dear brother, Ann’s hopes of finding the remains of Maurice for a decent burial are fading away.

She said that the family has all but lost hope of retrieving the remains of Maurice. “We don’t really have that confidence that there will be much to find, because they will be just a few bones. But we are still hoping against hope. I will like to get some kind of bones, but it must be the right bones, because after all this time, it will be very difficult to identify what kind of bone’s you are getting”, Ann remarked. She is nonetheless hopeful that the remains of her brother will be found so that a Christian burial could be afforded.

Families, relatives and friends of the Bishops attended a memorial service for Maurice at the home of the Bishops on Parade, St George’s last week Thursday. It was a happy moment for Alimenta, Ann and Maureen St John - another sister of Maurice - who celebrated the life of the former Prime Minister. “I was happy for the occasion to meet with friends and recall some of the good old days”, said Alimenta. “That gave us a good feeling. It shows that Maurice is not forgotten. It made us feel a little more comfortable. We felt that he was really loved, which we know. He was well loved by all”, remarked Ann Bishop.