PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – With a remarkable equanimity of spirit, Trinidad and Tobago welcomed its fifth President with as much positive anticipation as it said goodbye to its fourth with fond regard and memories. As the Port of Spain sun set on his decade-long tenure, the T&T Regiment band serenaded President Max Richards and his wife, Dr Jean Ramjohn-Richards, with a memorable selection from 2013 soca. In its send-off to the former president and commander-in-chief, the Defence Force thus recalled his active participation in the national festival of Carnival, with the chorus, “Ready for the Road”. The one-time UWI professor and principal, raised to head of state, has imparted an unforgettable style to the discharge of his exalted office. President Richards was not himself exempted from the experience of outrageous fortune that afflicted T&T over his period. He kept his cool, and took the trouble, on appropriate occasion, to admonish the country and its leaders with homely homilies of guidance and wisdom, covering a wide range of public affairs. With lingering gratitude, the republic will remember its former president as one who sought, after his own lights, to make a difference.
