GOVERNMENT OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Office of the Prime Minister
Prime Minister Gaston Browne
Pays tribute
To
Sir Gerald Watt K.C.N. K.C.
An extraordinary citizen of Antigua and Barbuda died today, and his death therefore made us a poorer people. Sir Gerald Owen Anderson Watt KCN KC, born December 19, 1938, died six days before his 87th birthday.
Sir Gerald was an independent thinker, a brave and courageous Antiguan man, a physically strong and intellectually-gifted lawyer, a great advocate for justice in the courts, and one who demonstrated his independence by placing himself in positions to deliver whatever he thought best for his country and its people.
Sir Gerald first came to the public’s attention when he was sworn-in as a very youthful attorney-at-law. When in 1971, at age 33, the second premier of Antigua and Barbuda was authorized to choose an Attorney General, Gerald Watt was appointed to that post. Because that administration lasted only five years, Gerald Watt returned to private practice after February 1976.
Sir Gerald built a reputation as a fierce litigator and an efficient lawyer. His interest in the governance of Antigua and Barbuda never diminished. When therefore the third Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda appointed him as Chairman of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission (ABEC) in 2005, he brought that same fierce independence to his job function. He faced a tribunal of three judges when an attempt was made to blame him for electoral failures in the 2009 General Elections.
Sir Gerald prevailed. He would not allow his reputation as an efficient administrator to be diminished in order to cover the unmistakable errors of judgment made by those who failed to act, following his many pleas for resources to manage the ABEC and general elections. He would subsequently be denied entry to the ABEC building by a phalanx of law enforcement officers.
When, therefore, the heritage political party was returned to office in 2014, Sir Gerald was invited to be the Speaker of the Parliament. His rulings during the multiple sittings over ten years, showed him to be compassionate, well-informed, eager to modernize the rules governing parliamentary sessions, fair and firm in his decision-making whenever he was required to rule. He was an excellent Speaker of the House of Representatives. His training as a lawyer, his argumentation skills as a litigator, his judgment as a legal practitioner, all came together to make his display of the parliamentary rules professional.
Sir Gerald Watt K.C.N., K.C. was a remarkable citizen. He will be accorded an official funeral. The people and Government thank him for his public service especially, and express condolences to his son and his other relatives, his friends and colleagues. Our country has lost a gem.
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My condolences to the community, family and friends.
I want to also expressed to the PM there are also other people who contribute significantly to Antigua and Barbuda. There are folks who literally offered there life, erroneously and unconstitutional arrested for literally saving life, having to spend thousands in legal fees right before death that could have been beneficial for medical care and to leave for family.
These other contributors should be as important as those workers with the prestigious and high paying jobs.
My condolences to the family of the government building cleaners, retired police officer family, the road cleaners family, the government office clerical workers’ family and all those people who contribute significantly to the country without the prestige, power and without proper or timely pay.
Thank you also to those under-appreciated people, there are no other I appreciate more than you. My condolences for your loss. And I promise to hold you in the highest regards.
People will always say the few good things about a person when they die, funny how the always neglect to talk about their negative ways. Watt wan one of those Elites who thought he was better than others especially whe he used to play football for MAPLES I knew the man. Nothing Gaston writes can change that and he was the same person to his death