By Carlena Knight
Two days ago the nation celebrated National Heroes Day and, once again, discussions over making October 26 a national holiday have arisen.
But while many believe the day should be recognised as one of several public holidays for Antigua and Barbuda, the likelihood of that happening looks slim.
This is according to Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, Lionel ‘Max’ Hurst, who spoke briefly on the matter during yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing.
“I can tell you that we are not likely to have a public holiday for National Heroes Day. Antigua and Barbuda has 14 holidays a year now, a little bit more than our Caricom counterparts,” he explained.
“The business community in Antigua frowns a little bit on it, and we have occasionally created new holidays during the year; they have popped up for some reason or the other, like the death of Sir Lester Bird and of our monarch, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. We created or rather we decreed that these were supposed to be holidays, but the idea is to keep the number at its present scale,” Hurst explained.
There are also no plans to erect monuments to commemorate Sir Lester Bird or Dame Nellie Robinson, both of whom are buried at the St John’s Public Cemetery.
Presently, only Sir Vere Cornwall Bird and Sir George Walter are buried at the Tomlinson’s site – National Heroes Park.
The observance of National Heroes Day has been a fickle topic over the years.
Under the former United Progressive Party (UPP) government, the occasion was once celebrated on December 9, which was also observed as VC Bird Day.
However, upon coming to office in 2014, the Antigua Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) government restored VC Bird Day as a lone public holiday, while Heroes Day was moved to October 26, and is not recognised as a public holiday.
In 2019, Prime Minister Gaston Browne, while addressing an audience at the National Heroes Day wreath-laying ceremony, suggested that the day be observed “on an existing holiday”.
He said that Carnival Monday could be considered for that, as the heroes’ contributions are being diminished “by not celebrating National Heroes Day as a public holiday”.
His comments were supported by Sir Lester Bird before he passed.
Antigua and Barbuda has six national heroes, just one of whom is still living – Sir Vivian Richards, one of the world’s greatest cricketers.
The others are “Father of the Nation” Sir Vere Cornwall Bird Sr, former prime minister Sir Lester Bird, former premier Sir George Walter, Prince Klaas, who led a slave revolt in 1736, and Dame Nellie Robinson, a pioneer in education.
