Tobago’s highest award—the Tobago Medal of Honour (Gold) has been posthumously bestowed on the island’s first chief secretary, the late Hochoy Charles.
The award was presented by THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine to his widow, Eka Frank-Charles, and other family members during Charles’ funeral service at the Shaw Park Complex, Scarborough.
Charles, 77, died on December 31 after ailing for some time.
Augustine, during his remarks, said the award was one of a few initiatives that the THA will implement in honour of Charles.
He said when he was appointed in 2021, he selected Charles to receive the Tobago Medal of Honour (Gold), but Charles declined, saying that Tobago needed to get internal self-government first.
Augustine said: “In the first instance, when I ended a meeting with the family on Tuesday, I begged them, please don’t burn up the man books and the man papers. You tell me an appropriate time and I will come for them.
“I will have them curated and we can have a small library set aside with all of his documents, so that there can be posterity and that we can continue to benefit from his wealth of knowledge.”
He said last year that Golden Lane Street where Charles lived was renamed Hochoy Charles Heights.
“While he was ill, we set up a room across at Randy’s in Orange Hill for his hospice care, so that when he left the hospital, he will have the care…. We will leave that room for hospice care in his honour at Randy’s,” added the Chief Secretary.
Augustine also noted that the office of the Chief Secretary had returned to Calder Hall and the Calder Hall Administrative Complex will be renamed the Hochoy Charles Administrative Complex.