PJ Patterson: No one contributed more than Ramphal to Commonwealth development

FORMER Jamaican PM PJ Patterson said for his entire life, Sir Shridath Ramphal remained above the partisan divisive fray. He said Ramphal never sought nor held any electoral office.

Patterson was paying tribute to Ramphal at his funeral in Guyana on Saturday.

“His strident insistence ‘on being Guyanese before being Indian and being West Indian before being Guyanese’ is sufficient to make him truly unique as a Caribbean paragon.”

Patterson said no one  had made a more enduring contribution to the evolution and catalytic force of the modern Commonwealth than this "avatar" Shridath Ramphal, the quintessential diplomat and consummate statesman, in responding to the challenges of transformation from Empire to an aggregation of sovereign nations that are multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and encompassing every religious creed; of small island states and landlocked countries alike.

“At the UN, the non-aligned, in hemispheric gatherings alike, Ramphal commanded total respect and ensured that despite our size, the Caribbean always stood tall and resolute in pursuit of a binding and equitable international system.”

He said it was therefore no surprise when in 1975, Ramphal was chosen by unanimous acclamation to become the second Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. He took the helm at a time when the mounting tensions in Southern Africa and the economic disparity between developed and developing member nations put into question the survival and future prospects of the Commonwealth itself.

Patterson said under Ramphal’s adroit and tenacious guidance, the Commonwealth Secretariat became the hub for strategic expert studies and programmes of technical assistance that spanned the entire gamut of major global issues and regional priorities.

“It encompassed the imperatives of a new and fair economic order; monetary policies, the debt burden; market access and commodity arrangements. He ensured that Commonwealth ministerial meetings, whether pertaining to finance, trade, education, health, labour or law served as the theatre to find common ground for one-third of the world’s people and thereby became a compelling voice at every global table.”

Patterson said Ramphal was a beacon of hope for the developing world and a bastion of peace and justice.

“But no matter how significant the influence of the Commonwealth in these spheres, it was in the fight against the evils of racism, the scourge of imperial exploitation and the quest for justice, freedom and human liberty everywhere that this exemplary descendant of indentured labour from the Caribbean made the most decisive difference and attained the zenith of his illustrious career.

“His obdurate insistence, applied with unswerving diplomatic ingenuity, that the Commonwealth he anchored should be in the vanguard to liberate Zimbabwe, eradicate Apartheid in South Africa and decolonise Namibia, gradually but finally overwhelmed the obduracy of those who sought to entrench racism and abominable domination for the benefit of their kith and kin.”

He said as a visionary global icon and an exceptional range of experience and depth of knowledge, Ramphal is the only person who was called upon to serve three distinguished international commissions which between them encompassed poverty, the environment, development, disarmament and global governance.

Patterson said he felt a sense of solitude at the departure of a dear friend, precious colleague and inveterate warrior.

“My only source of comfort and consolation springs from the acceptance that while his earthly sojourn has ended, Shridath 'Sonny' Ramphal leaves behind a rich legacy, a sound foundation on which to build. He bequeaths a scoreboard of outstanding accomplishments which will forever remain beacons to inspire all who seek to follow in his footsteps.

“His eternal testament for generations yet to come is a treasure trove of essays, literary work and publications which must serve as an eternal testament that will forever illumine our path in the quest to fulfill ‘the identity of oneness, to build our own future and chart our own destiny as cornerstones of the emerging Caribbean civilisation.’”