Retired army officer and former government minister Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Davidson Bostic is set to receive his most prominent assignment on Independence Day, when he is expected to become the second President of Barbados since the island became a republic in 2021.
The 64-year-old former City of Bridgetown MP who, as health minister, became the steady public face of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, has been nominated to succeed Dame Sandra Mason.
He is expected to receive unanimous approval for his elevation to head of state when a joint session of the House of Assembly and the Senate is held on October 7.
In an announcement on Tuesday at the start of the 114th sitting of the House of Assembly for the 2022 to 2027 term, Deputy Speaker of the House Neil Rowe read correspondence from Prime Minister Mia Mottley in which she revealed that Lt Col Bostic was her and Opposition Ralph Thorne’s joint nominee.
The announcement was met with loud desk-thumping from MPs, signalling their strong approval of the move.
The tenure of the island’s first president, jurist and diplomat Dame Sandra, the last viceroy under the former constitutional monarchy, comes to an end on November 29 after four years in office. The president-designate is to be sworn in the following day.
Familiarly known as The Colonel, Lt Col Bostic attended St Mary’s Primary School in Bridgetown and the Combermere School. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of the West Indies and a postgraduate diploma in hemispheric security from the Inter-American Defence College.
As a Barbados Defence Force soldier, he served as director of operations at the Regional Security System before retiring from military service in 2006. Lt Col Bostic enjoyed political success on his first outing when he was elected to the House of Assembly in 2013, representing the City of Bridgetown.
It was his Cabinet posting as minister of health from 2018 that won him widespread national, regional and international respect, particularly across the diaspora, when he shepherded the island through the traumatic COVID-19 pandemic with a defiant, no-nonsense, military bearing against a disease that killed 600 Barbadians and sickened thousands more.
His leadership during the global health crisis until his retirement from the ministerial post in January 2022 earned him several accolades, including the island’s highest honour – the Order of Freedom of Barbados.
He became best known for his refrain “no retreat, no surrender”, his calm reassurance and consistent interactions, including almost daily press briefings that kept the public informed on the pandemic fight.
(IMC)
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