In Memory of Dr Morgan Job

LAST Saturday marked the 40th day since the death of Dr Morgan Job and a memorial service was held in his honour on the island of his birth, Tobago.

Family, friends and well-wishers gathered to pay tribute, honouring the legacy of a man who they described as a prophet at the St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Scarborough.

Dr Job, a former Member of Parliament for Tobago East, Minister of Tobago Affairs and the Minister of Finance, Planning and Development in the Basdeo Panday administration, an economist, writer and radio personality, died on May 6 at the Eric Williams Medical Centre in Trinidad, after he was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in late March.

Job had published several books on political and economic reform and spent much of his life trying to change the culture of Trinidad and Tobago by educating and uplifting the minds of his fellow citizens.

Quoting the commandment ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’, Archdeacon Phil Isaac in the homily noted that love does no wrong to a neighbour, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law, as taken from Romans 13 verse 10.

“Love does no wrong to neighbour, and in these words, I hear the words of the deceased campaigning against racial disunity promoting the lining to see God in every face not race. Morgan’s description ruffled many hearts but if I should use Barclay’s word to interpret them, I would conclude that his aim was unconquerable, benevolence and undefeatable goodwill.

"When I reflect upon the man I knew, when I listened to him, when I look at what he did; Morgan as a baptised Christian lived out the principles of his baptism as prophet, as prince and as king,” Isaac said.

The Archdeacon defined the diverse rambling of the late Job as curse, noting that as coarse as they were to the human ear, they were executed from a heart of love.

“Job’s love was to make positive move that would bear fruits. He was one who advocated that our children be given arms to fight the battles of ignorance, if you never heard it, Morgan always preached that music was a catalyst to learning. When he was a Minister, he started to arm our children with musical instruments, set them on paths of Mathematics and Language so that they would not be like their fore parents, an ignorant bunch of people who would turn on each other and destroy themselves.

"While this ash may never live again, the soul and spirit for which it was a worthy envelope is alive and in God’s time will take on a new format that is imperishable. We are saying goodbye to his earthly presence, may the spirit that made him who he was depart to the place that God has prepared for him. May the memories of his life steer us into loving relationships with each other,” he said.

In bringing tributes, Dr Eastlyn McKenzie said that Job’s interest was the welfare of people, especially in the field of education. She said Job moved to set up a stakeholders committee in 2000 to deal with under performing students, which she was made to chair.

“We came to the conclusion that Roxborough Secondary was not getting the best of the lot from Common Entrance. We discovered and found out all the reasons, there were children who were getting zero out of ten, one out of ten in certain subjects and they were placed at Roxborough.

Tell me now, what any teacher could do with that sort of background without doing some sort of remedial work. When we discussed the results, Morgan was extremely happy because that is what he was saying all along. This was in 2000, eighteen years ago, it still happening today,” she said.

She added: “There are so many things that still could happen in education and I hope Morgan died knowing that somewhere along the line down the line that somebody will take up that baton in his name. if we do nothing else today, let us remember Dr Morgan Job, what he stood for and how he was tame and outspoken,” Dr McKenzie said.

While, Job’s friend, Kaleb Phillip said that Job was his guide in all financial matters, having read all his books and listened his radio programmes which eventually led him to open his very own small business.

“All the things that he has told me, I have seen them come to past. To me, his death has been a loss not only to me but to this nation, but I wonder if I should really say that his death has been a loss to this nation. Was his life really a gain to this nation or did they side step what he said and did their own thing.

When he was cremated if his message was cremated, this country Trinidad and Tobago will one day be cremated in a finesse of crime, violence, poverty and unemployment… I think that his message was clear, it was unfortunate, but the scripture came to pass that a prophet has no honour in his own country,” Phillip said.

During the service, Job’s daughter, Nzinga also performed a musical piece which she wrote in memory of her father