Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC)

Barbadian Sir George Alleyne’s exceptional accomplishments in public and international health earned him the deserving honour of membership of the Order of the Caribbean Community in the fourth conferment of 2001.

“His passion for the Caribbean cradled the Central American State of Belize into the arms of the Community” – words of introduction in the citation given for the Rt. Honourable George Cadle Price, “Father of the Nation” of Belize and OCC Awardee of 2001.

The political record of this great statesman dates back to CARIFTA, the precursor of the Caribbean Community.

“Celebrant, chantwell, warrior, prophet, satirist, and purveyor of joy, delight and elation: raconteur of the folk tales of our daily grass-rooted life.” The OCC Awardee to whom such adultations belong is the Caribbean’s most celebrated and renowned entertainer, social commentator and ambassador extraordinaire, Dr. Slinger Francisco, whom the world knows as “The Mighty Sparrow”.

His cross-national Caribbean identity is born out of Grenada, his birthplace, and Trinidad and Tobago, his homeland since the early age of two.

A Jamaican by birth, Sir Philip Manderson Sherlock has been described in the citation for the conferment of his OCC award in 1998 as “the complete Caribbean father figure, an inspiration to generations who knew him and served with him”.

For the cricketing world of the West Indies, Sir Garfield Sobers, a Barbados national, is an embodiment of excellence and a symbol of West Indian pride.

Cricketer par excellence, Sir Garfield distinguished himself as a superior cricketer, classified as the greatest all rounder ever.

For this outstanding contribution to the Region through his remarkable career as Captain and player of West Indies cricket, he was bestowed the honour of the Order of the Caribbean Community in 1998.

The charismatic career of the Rt. Hon. Vere Cornwall Bird embodied a long tradition of outstanding and dedicated political leadership in Antigua and Barbuda, his country of birth. It was therefore fitting that he was nominated by his country and awarded the OCC at the third conferment in 1998.

H.E. Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson (ANR) former Prime Minister and President of Trinidad and Tobago is among the select group of outstanding Caribbean leaders to carry with pride the title of OCC, which was conferred on him in 1998.

Sir Meredith Alister McIntyre, OCC Awardee of 1994, and a venerable Caribbean integrationist was born in Grenada.

A highly celebrated West Indian academic and intellectual, and considered one of the great social thinkers of his time, he piloted the movement for integration as Secretary-General of CARICOM from1974-1977, and as Vice Chairman of the West Indian Commission.

For his outstanding contribution to the Caribbean as a political leader and social reformer, the OCC was conferred on Jamaica’s fourth Prime Minister, Michael Norman Manley, and son of Jamaica’s national hero Norman Washington Manley, in 1994.

As an agitator and champion of the cause of the working class, he entered Jamaica’s political arena via the trade union movement, with a strong leadership background as President of the National Workers’ Union of Jamaica and President of the Caribbean Mine Workers’ Federation which he founded.