Providenciales, 13 Jan 2015 – Even in her death, Dr. Rosie is fighting for the leaders of her era… Magnetic Media remains in search of written or documented information on the life and times of Dr. Rosita Butterfield, the first woman elected to Parliament in the Turks and Caicos Islands and who died on Saturday in hospital in Nassau, Bahamas. Our hunt has taken us across the internet, in books which boast having the country’s history and even to the nation’s library to find hardly anything; very little and it appears it is like that for nearly all of the ‘old time’ politicians and pioneers.
The passing of Dr. Butterfield has brought to light and disturbingly so, truths about how limited is information on the builders of this country. One book had some substance; it had no author and gave a profile of the members of the Legislative Council from 1976 to 2005; found at the Provo Library. At the Grand Turk Library, there is the same information in a separate book which singles out the women who have served in Government up to ten years ago. As for content online, where most modern day students spend their time for research; there is no data on which party Mrs. Butterfield served with, no data on the years she served as the second female Speaker of the House, no data on when she was elected to office, breaking ground as the first woman to be elected an MP, and as for which constituency made that pioneering move; no information at all.
One cannot find causes she championed, what changes she made if any at the government level or what legislation she oversaw as the second woman to be Speaker of the Legislative Council. Thankfully there are newspaper articles which tell us where she came from and her achievements in her latter years. Also a surprise; there was no issued condolences on Dr. Rosie’s passing from her PNP Party and no issued condolences on her passing to media by the Premier of the country or the House of Assembly. We found the thoughts of Hon Dr Rufus Ewing, which were well expressed, on his Facebook page.
