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Trinidad and Tobago and its people undoubtedly have been honoured in having such a great man, the legendary freedom fighter Nelson Mandela, visit this country. And Mandela's greatness is not an accident of birth or having it thrust upon him. It was because he was prepared to challenge the dehumanising policy of apartheid, by which he and other indigenous South Africans were officially held to be second class citizens in their own country and go to jail for his principled stand. And at the end of the struggle when freedom had been won and he was President of his country he was prepared to forgive those who, with their policy of apartheid, for decades had denied freedom, respect and equality to him and his people.

We can count ourselves fortunate and honoured, as Mandela, in an address at the luncheon in his honour yesterday at the Hilton Trinidad, indicated that this would be his last trip. His doctors had advised him, he declared, against making any more such trips. His flight to Trinidad and Tobago had been all of 13 hours, a trip many much younger than he would have preferred not to undertake. He was glad, nonetheless, Mandela offered, that he was able to have made the journey to a country named after God — Trinidad, the Spanish word for Trinity which the Concise Oxford Dictionary describes as the "union of three Persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) in one Godhead."

The country must thank Jack Warner, President of CONCACAF and Vice President of FIFA, for having arranged for Mandela to visit Trinidad and Tobago while on his way to a CONCACAF Congress in Grenada in an attempt to secure South Africa's bid to host World Cub 2010. Warner has given Trinidadians and Tobagonians what for most would clearly be their first and last opportunity to see Nelson Mandela in the flesh, some to shake his hand and have brief chats with him, others to watch him on television on Trinidad and Tobago soil. Or to hear him on the radio, and to be able to say with pride years from now that they were here when he came visiting.

Yet despite what Warner has achieved for Trinidadians and Tobagonians, to allow them to have here in person a man who fashioned South Africa's destiny as well as impacted world history, some who attended the official luncheon in Mandela's honour at the Hilton on Friday acted in poor taste, perhaps thinking themselves facetious, when they poked fun at Warner. What they clearly forgot was that apart from Warner's credentials in the world of football he had, technically speaking, co-hosted Mandela's visit to Trinidad and Tobago. And as an advertisement in Thursday's Newsday was at pains to emphasise, the visit of Mandela to this country was "A project of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and CONCACAF."

"Partnering for Develoment," the ad would state. We should not have to remind the presenters that it is simply not on to ridicule your host, particularly in the presence of as great an honoured guest as Nelson Mandela. It is clear that Mandela respects what Warner is doing for football, and he hopes would do for South Africa's 2010 World Cup bid. In the process the presenters may have done more hurt to their own image and that of Trinidad and Tobago rather than Nelson Mandela's image of Jack Warner.