His Excellency, Sir Clifford Straughn Husbands, GCMG, KA, Governor General of Barbados

His Excellency, Sir Clifford Straughn Husbands, GCMG, KA, was born on the 5th August, 1926 at Morgan Lewis Plantation, in the parish of St. Andrew. He received his primary education at Selah Boy's Elementary School in St. Lucy between 1931 and 1936, and secondary education at the Parry School and Harrison College between 1936 and 1946.

On leaving Harrison College, Sir Clifford taught at the Parry School for three years before proceeding to London where he entered the Middle Temple to pursue studies in Law. He qualified as a Barrister and was called to Bar in 1952.

On his return to Barbados, Sir Clifford was admitted to practise law at the local Bar. He then entered private practice in the Chambers of Mr. W. W. Reece between 1952 and 1954. In 1954, he acted as Deputy Registrar.

Between 1954 and 1960, Sir Clifford held various legal appointments in Grenada, Antigua, Montserrat, St. Kitts-Nevis and Anguilla.

Sir Clifford returned to Barbados in 1960 and assumed duties as Assistant to the Attorney-General and Legal Draftsman. He was appointed as Director of Public Prosecutions in 1967 and elevated to the dignity of Queen's Counsel in 1968.

Sir Clifford was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court in 1976 and was promoted in 1991 as a Justice of Appeal, completing his tenure in 1996. He also acted as Chief Justice on several occasions and as Governor-General.

In recognition of his long and outstanding Legal and Judicial Service to Barbados, Sir Clifford was awarded the Gold Crown of Merit in 1986, made a Companion of Honour in 1989 and a Knight of St. Andrew in 1995.

Sir Clifford was sworn in as Governor-General on June 1, 1996, following the death of Barbados' first female Governor-General Dame Nita Barrow.

Sir Clifford is married to the former Ruby C.D. Parris.

PRIME MINISTER OF BARBADOS
THE HON. DAVID JOHN HOWARD THOMPSON

Born on Christmas Day 1961, the same year that the Rt. Excellent Errol Walton Barrow, many years later his mentor, became the Premier of Barbados, it was as if David Thompson was destined for great things and high office.

The third child of Barbadians, Margaret and Charles Thompson, his early childhood spanned metropolitan London in Britain, where he was born, and idyllic Barbados where he was nurtured and schooled.

He received his primary teaching at the St. Gabriel’s Junior School before proceeding to Combermere School for his secondary education. It was while at Combermere that he developed and displayed his considerable intellectual capacity and prowess. It was also there that he excelled in the cut and thrust of debate and public speaking.

Indeed, he came to prominence and public attention as the leading panelist for his alma mater, in the then popular secondary schools’ television debates – Understanding. On that programme, he evinced much wit, erudition and sagacity, as he made his mark as one well versed and knowledgeable; often exuding a degree of confidence, a level of maturity and a grasp of topical issues that belied his youthfulness.

That forum, and his active membership of the youth arm of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) of Mr. Barrow, the Young Democrats, (he was the President between 1980 and 1982) virtually catapulted the then precocious youth into the national limelight and he was seen as a future leader bequeathed to Barbados by Mr. Barrow.

David Thompson completed his secondary schooling at Combermere, securing a Barbados Exhibition in 1979. He returned and taught at his alma mater for a year before entering the Law Faculty of the University of the West Indies where he read for a degree, graduating with honours in 1984.

He then pursued the Legal Education Certificate at the Hugh Wooding Law School of the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. That prepared him for his chosen and natural profession. He further honed his legal and oratorical skills at the feet of Errol Barrow Q. C. whose law firm, Trident Chambers, he joined in 1986. There, he rubbed shoulders with some of the other legal luminaries of the day: Asquith Phillips Q.C., George Moe Q.C., Carol Fields Q.C. and Philip Greaves Q. C.

Between 1986 and 1988, he served as a part-time tutor in law at the University of the West Indies. Following Mr. Barrow’s untimely death in 1987, he successfully contested the by-election in the constituency of St. John which he has represented ever since

Mr. Thompson’s first Cabinet appointment was in 1991 when he was made Minister of Community Development and Culture. His passion for and commitment to meaningful youth development, as well as his interest in culture, saw him in the vanguard in the establishment of the Barbados Youth Service and the Youth in Business Programme, as well as in the restructuring of the National Youth Orchestra.

From 1992 to 1993, he was switched to the Ministry of Finance as Minister of State, and between 1993 and 1994 he assumed full responsibility for that Ministry. During that time, he was responsible for restructuring the sugar industry and the offshore sector, monitoring the government’s successful stabilisation programme with the International Monetary Fund and the structural adjustment programme that was implemented in 1993.

Despite his demanding and weighty schedule over that crucial period, the energetic and industrious David Thompson still found time to be an effective General Secretary of the DLP from 1987 to 1994.

Often described as the consummate politician by his peers, David Thompson has also experienced the vicissitudes of electoral politics over 20 years. Always handsomely winning his own riding, and by overwhelming margins in all six attempts, he was, however, the leader of the Democratic Labour Party when it lost the general elections of 1994 and 1999.

Never one to be daunted by transient setbacks, he relinquished both positions of Leader of the Opposition (which he held from 1994) and the leadership of the DLP in 2003; but came back in 2006 as Opposition Leader and DLP President.

During the interregnum, he turned to his law practice, specialising in corporate, insurance, international business and property law. Prior to this, he had also established a law partnership that lasted from 1994 to 2000.

In short time, following his re-appointment as Leader of the Opposition in 2006, he set about putting his stamp on the DLP. The party regrouped, as he reinvigorated its rank and file and went on a relentless two-year campaign to restore the DLP as the political party of choice for the majority of Barbadians. His efforts turned around the fortunes of the DLP and saw it regaining the reigns of power in January 2008 when it won 20 of the 30 parliamentary seats.

Little wonder that at age 46, Prime Minister David Thompson, Mr. Barrow’s protégé, is the sixth holder of the office since Independence. He also has ministerial responsibility for the portfolios of Finance, Economic Affairs and Development, Labour, the Civil Service and Energy.

Over the years, David Thompson has provided consultancy services to a number of regional and international organisations, including: the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, the Caribbean Law Institute, the Caribbean Policy Development Centre and the CARICOM Secretariat.

In addition, he is involved at the local community level in several cultural and sporting organisations. Among his many affiliations are: PAREDOS, Barbados National Trust, Barbados Museum and Historical Society, Barbados Cricket Association, the UWI Guild of Graduates, Combermere School Old Scholars’ Association, Rontana Dance Movement, St. John’s Cultural Cricket Club, Sussex Cricket Club and Sonnets Football Club.

His bold and much acclaimed Families First programme, in his beloved St. John, is a pioneering initiative that aims to re-establish and re-assert the family unit as the paramount and core constituent in the overall development of communities.

An avid reader, with a near insatiable appetite for literature on people, politics and international affairs, he lists cricket, football, music and community activities as his hobbies, whenever time permits.

Prime Minister David Thompsonis married to Marie-Josephine Mara, nee Giraudy, and they are the parents of three daughters – Misha, Oya and Osa-Marie.

Owen Seymour Arthur, Former The Right Honorable Owen Seymour Arthur assumed office on September 7, 1994, as Barbados' fifth Prime Minister.

Mr. Arthur, who was born in Barbados on October 17, 1949, at age 44 became one of the youngest Barbadian politicians elected to that office.
He successfully led the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) to victory in the General Elections held on September 6, 1994, when it won 19 of the 28 seats in the House of Assembly.

He again led the BLP to a landslide victory on January 20, 1999, winning 26 of the 28 seats.

The Prime Minister's political career began when he was appointed a member of the Barbados Senate in 1983. He became a Member of Parliament in 1984 and was appointed Leader of the Opposition in 1993. He remains Chairman of the Barbados Labour Party.

The Prime Minister was educated at All Saints' Boys' School, Coleridge and Parry School on a Government Scholarship, Harrison College and the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill and Mona Campuses, the latter on a U.W.I. postgraduate scholarship.

The holder of a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree (upper second class honours) in Economics and History, and a Master of Science degree in Economics, Mr. Arthur began his working career in Jamaica, as a Research Assistant in the Department of Management of the Mona Campus, U.W.I.

In 1974 he took up the post of Assistant Economic Planner at the National Planning Agency in Jamaica. Within five years he attained the top post of Chief Economic Planner.

Mr. Arthur's next appointment was that of Director of Economics, from 1979 to 1981, at the Jamaica Bauxite Institute.

As Director, his responsibilities included the management of the Division of Economics and Financial Affairs which monitored production of bauxite in Jamaica, the payment of levies and taxes by bauxite companies and all other aspects of the economic performance and affairs of the Jamaican bauxite industry.

He represented Jamaica on UNCTAD's Inter-Governmental Group of Exports on the Transfer of Technology in 1975 and 1976, was a member of the OAS Task Force on Technology Transfer in the Caribbean and a member of the Caribbean Technology Policy Studies Project between 1977 and 1978. In addition, Mr. Arthur also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Jamaica's Scientific Research Council.

In 1981, the Prime Minister returned to Barbados and took up the post of Chief Project Analyst in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, where he assisted with the preparation and review of pre-feasibility and feasibility studies in relation to Barbados' public investment programme.

He also coordinated the preparation of Barbados' 1983—88 Development Plan and participated in the negotiation of Barbados' 1982 programme with the International Monetary Fund.

Mr. Arthur joined the Institute of Social and Economic Research, Cave Hill Campus, U.W.I. in 1983 and undertook research for publication into the balance of payments stabilisation policies in Barbados. He also reviewed and edited articles submitted to the Institute for publication.

He returned to the Ministry of Finance and Planning as a Parliamentary Secretary in 1985 for one year, before joining the Department of Management, U.W.I. as a part-time lecturer.

He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Barbados Industrial Development Corporation; a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Barbados, and Chairman of the Barbados Agricultural Development Corporation.

The Prime Minister also has wide experience as a consultant. He was consultant to the Organisation of American States (OAS) in 1975; to the Ministry of Housing and Lands, Barbados, from 1983 to 1984 and to Caricom, 1992.

His publications include "The Commercialisation of Technology in Jamaica", 1979; "Energy and Mineral Resource Development in the Jamaica Bauxite Industry" 1981; and "The IMF and Economic Stabilisation Policies in Barbados" 1984.

He has been a member of the Barbados Economic Society and is an active member of the Barbados External Communications (BET) Sports Club.
His hobbies include gardening and cooking.
Mr. Arthur is married to the former Julie Price.