Government spent $1.3 million on Sparrow's farewell

The Gov­ern­ment spent $1.3 mil­lion on the fu­ner­al arrange­ments and of­fi­cial farewell for leg­endary ca­lyp­son­ian Dr Slinger Fran­cis­co, bet­ter known as the Mighty Spar­row.

Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment Min­is­ter Michelle Ben­jamin dis­closed the fig­ure in the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives, ex­plain­ing that the ex­pen­di­ture cov­ered arrange­ments for the na­tion­al icon's fi­nal farewell on Oc­to­ber 16.

Ben­jamin said the Gov­ern­ment, un­der the lead­er­ship of Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, had been in­struct­ed from the out­set to en­sure that the wish­es of Spar­row's fam­i­ly were re­spect­ed.