George Michael Chambers

George Michael Chambers (born October 4, 1928 in Port of Spain , Trinidad ; † November 4, 1997 ibid) was a politician and Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago from 1981 to 1986 .

Political career and minister

Chambers initially worked for several oil companies in the country. He began his political career in 1956 with the successful candidacy for the House of Representatives . In the following years he was general secretary of the People's National Movement (PNM) party. In 1966 he was appointed Parliamentary State Secretary in the Treasury by then Prime Minister Eric Eustace Williams . He later served as Minister of Finance, Public Services and Housing, National Security, Education, Industry and Trade, and Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries. Even when Williams fired him as Secretary of the Treasury, he did not lose the support of the PNM, which elected him vice chairman.

Prime Minister and election defeat

Term of office as prime minister

After Williams' suicide on March 29, 1981, Chambers was named Prime Minister and chairman of the PNM the following day by then President Ellis Clarke .

During his tenure, Chambers changed the direction of the PNM. He himself was not involved in the racial policy of his predecessor, which had in the past led to divisive influences on Trinidad. His politics were nationalist as well as socialist . On the one hand, it promoted any settlement of private companies, while on the other hand it maintained the state social welfare programs and the state economic sector. Unlike his predecessor Williams, he tried to convene a conference of the Prime Ministers of the Caribbean to solve the general regional problems of the region. In the general election on November 9, 1981, Chambers and the PNM were re-elected by a large majority.

Economic crisis and election defeat in 1986

With the end of the oil boom that began in the mid-1980s and made Trinidad and Tobago one of the richest states in the Caribbean in the 1970s, Chambers' popularity declined. His saying "The party is over, back to work" ("Fete over back to work") became famous. After he had proposed in the election campaign for financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support the economy, the PNM suffered a national defeat in the 1986 general election, in which the PNM received only three of the 36 seats in the House of Representatives. On December 18, 1986 Chambers was replaced as Prime Minister by Arthur NR Robinson . At the same time he handed over the office of chairman of the PNM to Patrick Manning . After the election defeat, Chambers withdrew from political life.

When the price of crude oil within the next two years crashed and the country was already in debt deep, Robinson took the proposed Chambers credit of 200 million US dollars from the IMF on.

Web links

• Biography in rulers.org
• Obituary in the British Independent