Caribbean News
TCI’s Champion of Decolonisation, Remembering Hon Daniel Malcolm
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, December 13, 2022 – Remembered by his colleagues as an ardent freedom fighter, former politician Daniel Malcolm will have flags in the TCI flown at half- mast in his honor until his funeral in early 2023. While Hon Malcolm dedicated his life to politics in the Turks and Caicos, decolonization was a passion of his and he was a United Nations Registered Expert on the topic.
Born in the Turks and Caicos, he was educated in Jamaica at Excelsior College and went on to have a successful career in business serving as Section Head of the Bank of Montreal and London branch in Nassau. Before long, Daniel Malcolm was serving in his home Turks and Caicos as a Member of Parliament.
He also served as an advisor to the Governor and Chairman of the Constitutional Commission on the Islands; appointed to the role by former premier, Rufus Ewing and leading a bi-partisan panel to compile a report to be tabled in parliament.
The results are among his latest contributions to his beloved Turks and Caicos and may be among his most enduring, as the very ideas and desires he solicited from citizens and residents are now re-shaping the 2011 Constitution Order
Malcolm was an ardent supporter of overseas territories governing themselves becoming independent and governing themselves. In a 2015 speech in Nicaragua at a United Nations event centered on eradicating colonialism, Malcolm said this in reference to the platinum anniversary of The UN which was then, five years away.
“It will be a celebration of achievement for freedom loving people all around the globe; but in the world of the Dependent Territories, there will be bitter/sweet memories. Sweet, because we would have arrived at a time and place when hope: of complete freedom from the colonial yoke still reign supreme; and bitter, because seemingly, after memories of the slave trade, the Holocaust, Apartheid, two World Wars continue to recede into our conscious recollection of past history, colonialism remains ever present with us.”
He lamented over the lack of progress on independence for non-self-governing territories globally and was invested in advancing the TCIs self-governance.
True to this, Malcolm was instrumental in assessing the 2011 constitution in his capacity as Chairman of The Constitutional Commission and finding ways to make it less ‘regressive and inconsistent’ as he described it.
Akierra Missick, Member of Parliament recalled her own memory of him working on the Commission.
“Hon. Malcolm was truly a person who believes in the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands— he was bold enough to stand up and say it is time for an independent Turks and Caicos— He wanted to break the ceiling of colonialism for the people. The walls that they were able to break down during their time, gives me an opportunity to stand here.”
Magnetic Media offers our sincere condolences to the friends and family of Hon. Daniel Malcolm.