Former PoS mayor Tim Kee dies

Former Port of Spain mayor Raymond Tim Kee has died. According to statement from Balisier House, Tim Kee died on Saturday night. His cause of death was not officially revealed although radio i95FM's midday news yesterday said he died of cancer.

He was appointed PNM treasurer in 2010 and alderman and mayor in 2013. The PNM remembered Tim Kee as "a giant of a man, a gentlemen and a patriot."

However, Tim Kee left office in controversial fashion when he was forced to resign in 2016 after making statements after Japanese pan enthusiast Asami Nagakiya was found murdered, in her Carnival costume, on Ash Wednesday morning that same year in the Queen's Park Savannah.

During a news conference, when asked to comment on Nagakiya's death, Tim Kee said women did not need to be­have in a vul­gar and lewd man­ner to en­joy them­selves during Car­ni­val.

He said, "I spoke of some of the things that I see women do, as­sist­ed by men, of course, but the woman has the re­spon­si­bil­i­ty that they en­sure that they are not abused. You can en­joy Car­ni­val with­out go­ing through that rou­tine." Tim Kee added that women need­ed to main­tain a lev­el of dig­ni­ty dur­ing Car­ni­val fes­tiv­i­ties.

His statement caused such an outrage on social media that he issued an apology, say­ing his state­ments were tak­en out of con­text. It was not the first time |Tim Kee had courted controversy over re­marks about women's be­hav­iour dur­ing Car­ni­val.

In 2014, speak­ing to re­porters at the Down­town Car­ni­val judg­ing point in South Quay, the then may­or said, "I see some women do some things with some men...noth­ing for the imag­ination, you can't do that." |He said he felt that some of the cos­tumes he had seen then were "unac­cept­able – al­most like a beach par­ty on the street. I hate to say this, some women just don't care."

But, his former colleagues believed had always had good intentions. Incumbent mayor Joel Martinez he was saddened by Tim Kee's passing.

"I was absolutely shocked when I heard the news of his passing last night. I am really saddened because he was a mayor of recent history and he was somebody I would have spoken to as an incoming mayor and gotten advice from as to govern the city from his vantage point, so it is really a blow to PoS and the country. He was a gentleman, a person who felt committed to public life and felt he could really have made a difference. In his small way when he did it, he did it with excellence, so it is really with a heavy heart that I have accepted the news and I feel that we have lost a brother and a son of the soil who would have contributed to the soul of PoS."

Another former mayor Louis Lee Sing said Tim Kee was fundamental in the development of football, and an equal amount to the development of the country.

"I don't whether you can separate the two, but he did what he believed in and in the end he would have had, in my view, a good record and an excellent inning and so it is unfortunate, at this time of the year, to have had to say goodbye." On his statements on Nagakiya's death, Lee Sing said sometimes people made statements that they felt were right.

"The reality is that at times people make comments on the basis of their own orientation and their knowledge of the path. That controversy would have cost him a lot, but I think if you can't take away the controversy from him, I would ask the population to judge him not only on the controversy, but on the other good things he contributed to society."