My encounters with Panday

THE EDITOR: I was truly saddened to learn the shocking news of the death of the former prime minister Basdeo Panday. Many will write and speak of Panday’s political career and can do so, much more knowledgeably and eloquently than I can. I write only of my personal interaction with him, on at least two occasions, during which he demonstrated his well-known sense of humour.

The last occasion that I spoke to Panday was at the cocktail reception at NAPA following the 2023 Independence Day parade. He looked exceedingly well and was in ripping form. His oft-quoted remark of many years ago, to wit, “If you see me and a lion fighting, feel sorry for the lion,” came readily to mind.

We greeted each other warmly and I enquired after his health and that of his wife, while his devoted daughter, Mickela Panday, who adores her dad and resembles him so much, danced attendance on him. I was glad he was able to attend the function. He had Prime Minister Rowley laughing heartily at his quips.

I reminded him of the time back in the 1990s when he made the registrar anxious as the ceremony for the presentation of law graduates to admission to practise was about to begin and he was nowhere in sight. He had to present more than one petition, and I had quite a few, mainly foreign graduates. I was pressed into service to hold for him and readily agreed.

To the great relief of Panday’s petitioners and myself, he bustled into the Hall of Justice in the nick of time. After the ceremony, I told him that we were worried that he would not come in time. Panday, with his characteristic wicked smile, said to me, “Come? I always come.” Thinking the innuendo was lost on me, he repeated his remark, while grinning from ear to ear, while I bestowed on him my most icy stare. I guess I was in no mood for jokes that day.

I recall his remark when the committee, that had been set up by Kamla Persad-Bissessar, then minister of legal affairs, to amend the original Domestic Violence Act presented its report at City Hall. We had worked long hours and done painstaking research. Panday congratulated us, committee members, in these words, “I never see lawyers work so hard, for free.” He then let out a guffaw in which we all joined.

May he rest in perfect peace.

HAZEL THOMPSON-AHYE

Independent senator