The Senate on Friday paid tribute to the life and work of late former member Delano Franklyn during its weekly sitting.

A service of thanksgiving for Franklyn’s life was also held the same day at the University Chapel, Mona, St Andrew.

The former minister of state, attorney-at-law, and political activist, died of cancer of the blood on Friday, February 10, 2023. He was 63.

Both Opposition and Government senators spoke glowingly of Franklyn, who served the People’s National Party for almost all of his adult life.

Opposition Senator Lambert Brown shared that he misses his “brother” whom he had known and worked with from the 1970s, during his era of student activism

“Gone too soon, brother. Yellow, as we call you, in another place and another time. Nuff respect. You served the nation with dignity, with composure… gone too soon,” Brown said.

He noted that Jamaicans, and those far and wide, respected and recognised Franklyn’s service to humanity.

“We have lost a compassionate soul, one who cared for the people and who spent his entire life serving humanity,” he said.

“For those of us who sang with him in the trenches Forward March, we will miss you Delano; for those who sang The International with you, we will miss you Delano; and for those of us who sang Jamaica Arise, the song of the PNP, we will miss you Delano,” he added.

Brown said he was asked to express sympathy regarding Franklyn’s passing on behalf of former senators Norman Grant and Navel Clarke, as well as Senator Floyd Morris — who all served with him. He noted too that a long-time friend of Franklyn’s, King’s Counsel of Grenada Ruggles Ferguson, also sent his condolence.

In her reflection, Opposition Senator Donna Scott Mottley said she was most familiar with Franklyn as chairman of the Michael Manley Foundation, with her as his deputy chair, “and I can tell you that whatever Delano does, he embraces with passion and he serves diligently”.

She noted that when Franklyn put together the anthology of the speeches of Michael Manley, and his budget presentations, he had a particular vision “that it could go a far way in helping to redefine and expand the boundaries that oftentimes limit the expansion of the playing field of social, political and economic governance.

“He wanted to ensure or play his part in seeing that more states can secure equality for their people. I think this was the foundation of everything that he did — how to move the people forward, how to educate the people, how to empower them, and how to create a just society,” she said.

Scott Mottley noted as well that as minister of state in the Ministry or Foreign Affairs, with special responsibility for the Jamaican Diaspora, “Delano felt passionately that there had to be a stronger connection between Jamaica and the Diaspora,” noting that he was the first person to moot the possibility of having a senator who would represent the Diaspora.

For Government Senator Kavan Gayle, he said the Government pays tribute to “who I would consider to be a very distinguished gentleman, with a distinguished name — Delano Roosevelt Franklyn”.

Gayle said Franklyn served with distinction in the Senate and gave exemplary service in supporting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He also noted that as an author, Franklyn penned several books including We want Justice — Jamaica and the Caribbean Court of Justice; The Jamaican Diaspora — Building an Operational Framework; The Right Move: Corporate Governance and Leadership in Jamaica.

“These are some strange names to those books but that’s Delano, someone who was always thinking out of the box,” he said.

Gayle also shared that Franklyn, as an attorney with skills in criminal and civil litigation, was also interested in labour, entertainment, and sports law,

He described Flanklyn as “a very distinguished gentleman, someone who this country owes a debt of gratitude to”.

“Today we pay tribute to him and we extend condolence to the communities that he served, and his family,” he said.

Following the tribute Senators rose for a customary moment of silence in recognition of the passing of one of their own.

Franklyn, who was also the uncle of deputy chairman of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Aundre Franklin, was appointed chief advisor to then prime minister of Jamaica, P J Patterson in 1998; and he also served as special advisor to former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.

Franklyn was state minister for foreign affairs from 2000 to 2007; and served in the Senate from 2002 to 2007.

He was one of the founding partners of the law firm Wilson and Franklyn. He was also as notary public and a trained educator.