Sparrow funeral, celebration cost $1.3m

THE Government spent $1.3 million on the funeral and farewell celebrations for calypso legend the Mighty Sparrow (Slinger Francisco), Minister of Culture and Community Development Michelle Benjamin told Parliament on Monday.

Speaking during the Budget debate, Benjamin said the expenditure covered the procession from Independence Square in Port of Spain to the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), as the country paid its final respects to the calypso icon.

“The other exercise was to make sure that we give him a send-home, a farewell, a celebration of his life that is worthy of the Mighty Sparrow. And the Government in that exercise would have spent $1.3 million,” Benjamin said.