CARICOM PRESS RELEASE
Renowned Guyanese Cricketer Sir Clive Lloyd and Jamaican Regionalist and former Caricom Secretary-General Roderick Rainford have been conferred with the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC), the Region’s highest honour.
The ceremony took place at Charter Hall, St George’s University, during a culturally rich Opening Ceremony for the 47th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Caricom Heads of Government in Grenada on Sunday, 28 July 2024.
Sir Clive, who was present to receive the award, stated that he was grateful to be honoured by the Community. “I am humbled to be in your midst and to have been considered worthy of the honour of the Order of the Caribbean Community,” stated the legendary cricketer. “I am indeed grateful for your validation and indeed urge your continued support of the development of West Indies Cricket spawned by initiatives of the fertile minds of the pertinent Caricom Sub-Committee. Ladies and gentlemen, you must know that amongst knighthoods, honorary doctorates, and national honours with which I have been blessed, this award, which emanates from an aggregation that essentially fuelled my professional career, holds pride of place.”
Dr Nesha Z Haniff Rainford, wife of Roderick Rainford, received the award on behalf of her husband. She traced his journey from childhood as the last of 7 children whose parents had a powerful impact on his life through the values they instilled in him. “He’s the handiwork of his parents. The values they passed on to him were humility, discipline, hard work and self-respect, love of the land, and love of Jamaica,” she said. She quoted from Rainford’s letter accepting the award in which he stated: “I am pleased to be included among the Caribbean patriots who have already received this distinction and I pledge to continue conducting my life in a manner worthy of this privilege.”
Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd, CBE AO, BM
Sir Clive captained the West Indies Cricket Team in three World Cups, winning in 1975 (scoring a century), 1979, and the 1983 final.
In 1971, he was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year. He captained the West Indies between 1974 and 1985 and directed their rise to become the greatest Test and One Day International team of the 20th Century; only Australia achieved comparable success. He is considered one of the most successful Test captains in the history of West Indies Cricket. During his captaincy, the side had a run of 27 matches without defeat, which included 11 wins in succession. He was the first West Indian player to earn 100 international caps.
In 2009, Sir Clive was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. In 2022, Lloyd received a knighthood at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle in England.
Roderick Rainford, CD
Rainford served as the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community from 1983 to 1992. Before this, he served as Deputy Secretary-General. He was integrally involved in adopting the Grand Anse Declaration in 1989 which charted the course toward expanding the Treaty of Chaguaramas and establishing the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME). The former Secretary-General also spearheaded a significant review of Caricom’s existing regional programmes and organisations in which some essential elements for the deepening of the Community were identified.
The Jamaican regionalist oversaw, inter alia, the development of the Caricom Uniform Building Code (CUBiC), a regional code for constructing safe, sturdy buildings in an earthquake and hurricane-prone Region. He also served the Region as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB); Advisor to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) Director for Canada, Ireland, and the English-speaking Caribbean; and Alternate Director for The Bahamas, Barbados, Guyana, and Jamaica at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). Utilising his wealth of experience, he has written extensively on issues about the Region’s social and economic development, providing rich knowledge to inform future decisions to improve the lives of Caribbean people.
Rainford played an integral role in developing and submitting the proposal to establish the OCC, the award for which he is being honoured.