Will CARICOM Heads honour Joseph Niles?

by Diana Duke

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

BASSETERRE, St Kitts: The eyes of the people of the Caribbean will be focused on the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government to see how they deal with the current political situation in Haiti when they meet here for the 15th CARICOM Inter-sessional Meeting which opens tomorrow.

However, there will be one man, along with thousands of Christians including dozens of ministers of religion, who will be sitting in the shadows and watching closely to see if CARICOM has paid any attention to his call for the organization to honour one of the region's most acclaimed gospel singers.

Norman Agustus Thomas, who is also the press attaché to Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister, Lester Bird, and has been described by many as a great pianist/organist, began a campaign back in October last year when he wrote directly to the Secretary General of CARICOM, Edwin Carrington, and the current Chairman of CARICOM Prime Minister P. J. Patterson of Jamaica asking that Mr. Joseph Niles of Barbados, be honoured by the regional body for his outstanding contribution to the development of gospel music in the region.

Thomas said, the music of Niles cut across all ports of entry and went straight to the hearts of the people of the Caribbean and he should be honoured by CARICOM.

"I have been looking at a number of the persons that have been honoured by CARICOM over the years for their contributions to the region's development and I notice that a lot has been said about calypsonians like Sparrow, whom they honoured some years ago, politicians, sportsmen and so forth. 

However, I have not seen anyone from the religious perspective being honoured as far as gospel music is concerned. As a result, I wrote to the Secretary General of CARICOM Mr. Carrington asking him to look into the possibility of CARICOM honouring Joseph Niles from Barbados for the great role he played in the spiritual development of the people of the region via his gospel music."

Thomas said he never got a written reply from Carrington but met with him at the 9th Special Meeting of CARICOM Heads in St. Lucia last year.

"I did approach him on the matter and he said that he did receive my letter and that there is a special committee in CARICOM that deals with such matters and they will be looking at my letter. However, I was shocked when he told me that he himself had never heard of Joseph Niles." Thomas said.

He said since the matter was aired on the BBC and was published in several regional newspapers he has received a tremendous amount of regional support via letters and phone calls and is waiting patiently to see if CARICOM will take time to honour a man who has brought comfort and cheer to the hearts of the people of the region.

"I got a great deal of letters, telephone calls from ministers of the gospel all over the region and they all agree that if CARICOM could honour Sparrow for singing some very suggestive calypsos, then surely, they can honour Brother Joseph Niles," Thomas concluded.

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