The body of late Deputy Prime Minister Elvin Nimrod has finally been laid to rest on the small island of his birth in Carriacou which he represented in Parliament for 19 successive years in the lower House of Parliament as its Parliamentary representative.
The 78-year old Nimrod who was trained as a barrister-at-law in the United States died on February 5 in Florida and was buried on Tuesday – four days after his body was originally due to be interned.
The former Parliamentarian was given an official funeral with the church service taking place at the Lauriston Mini stadium which he played a major role in erecting during his tenure in government.
The planning of Nimrod’s funeral has been controversial with his American-born wife, Donzel Tucker-Nimrod admitting that the plans “went astray” as family members and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs met to discuss the arrangements.
An insider told THE NEW TODAY that Nimrod’s wife was meeting resistance from the children of the former MP from a previous marriage and political operatives of the ruling New National Party (NNP) on the sister isle.
One insider said: “Nimrod wife has no children for him and the outside children along with the NNP want to do as they please, however the wife isn’t allowing it.
Another remarked: “The Nimrod brothers, sisters and extended family members are supporting the children and the NNP party and not the wife. The wife is having a very hard time.”
THE NEW TODAY spoke to the wife of the late MP who admitted that the funeral arrangements did not go smoothly.
“Even if there were plans in place, the plans went astray – other than that I have no comment,” said the U.S-born female attorney-at-law.
The wife was also reluctant to comment on reports that the government did not contribute financially to bringing back the body of the ex-deputy Prime Minister from the United States where he had died but had attempted to hijack the funeral arrangements.
Tucker-Nimrod said: “No comment. The only thing that I could say is that the best laid plans do go astray. We don’t live in a perfect world that things happen but we move forward.
The wife was also diplomatic when asked by THE NEW TODAY about reports circulating that the son of Nimrod from a previous marriage and top NNP party officials in Carriacou were giving strong opposition to her handling of the funeral arrangements.
She said: “No comment and that’s just a rumour. We don’t live in a perfect world, the best laid plans go astray – thing happen but we are going to move forward and we are going to have the funeral tomorrow.”
A close family member said it was embarrassing that the funeral had to be cancelled at the last minute because a number of foreign dignitaries had already made their way to Carriacou to take part in the official funeral for the late Deputy Prime Minister.
In addition, the vessel known as the “Dolly C” had transported a number of vehicles from the mainland to Carriacou for use by persons who travelled from the mainland for the funeral.
The family member accused the NNP government of dropping “the ball” with the funeral arrangements for the late Deputy Prime Minister who represented the Constituency of Carriacou & Petite Martinique from 1999 to 2018 in Parliament.
He spoke of a meeting which took place more than two weeks ago with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Nimrod’s family on the arrival of those who were coming from overseas for the funeral including the Covid-19 protocols.
He said that up to Friday’s original date that was set for the funeral, two family members including a son of the late parliamentarian were still in quarantine in private property although somebody in government allegedly told them that they will have no difficulty on arrival.
“The issue is that the government didn’t remember that those men had to be quarantined to be there in time for the funeral. The government dropped the ball – please don’t allow them to get away with spinning this thing. That’s a total deception that they put out there. No family ain’t make no request (for the postponement of the funeral),” he remarked.
According to the family member, some officials in the NNP government especially those in Carriacou were more pre-occupied with seeking political mileage with the holding of a motorcade with the body of Nimrod instead of making sure that all the arrangements were put in place for Friday’s funeral.
He said the government is trying to make it out as a family issue that caused the cancellation of the funeral but they created the problem and then hours before the burial announced that it had to be put back to a later date.
The family member also commented on the condition in which Nimrod was forced to spend his last days alive especially when he was forced to be put in a home in the United States and was eventually taken out and went to live with a sister in the Miami area in Florida.
He suggested that the government could have done something financially to help out Nimrod given his years of service to the country.
“I went there (in the home) to see him and he didn’t want to see me since he was so ashamed,” he said.
THE NEW TODAY was told that another issue of contention was the fact that one section of the family had to pay to bring back the body of the late Deputy Prime Minister from the United States to Carriacou for the official funeral without any financial input from the Mitchell-led government.
According to the family member, the money came from a step brother of the ex-deputy Prime Minister and no one else.
“It is his mother’s husband child who pay the money to bring Nimrod back here,” he said, and quickly added that the government “didn’t put in a penny”.