Daily Features

Sir Shridath greets Prime Minister Samuel Hinds.  (Stabroek News file photo)
Sir Shridath greets Prime Minister Samuel Hinds. (Stabroek News file photo)

Tributes to Sir Shridath Ramphal on his eightieth birthday

Introduction Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal, lawyer, foreign policy expert, international civil servant and writer, known as ‘Sonny’ to his family and friends, was born on October 3, 1928 in New Amsterdam, Berbice, to Grace and James Ramphal.

Sir Shridath in conversation with Caricom Secretary-General Edwin Carrington in the garden of Colgrain House, 2002 (Stabroek News file photo)
Sir Shridath in conversation with Caricom Secretary-General Edwin Carrington in the garden of Colgrain House, 2002 (Stabroek News file photo)

Ramphal reminiscences

By Edwin W. Carrington Secretary-General Caribbean Community (Caricom) The name of the Honourable Sir Shridath Surendradath ‘Sonny’ Ramphal, OCC is inextricably linked to the pursuit of co-operation, development and integration in the Caribbean, the wider so-called Third World and globally.

P.J. Patterson
P.J. Patterson

Scholar, erudite jurist, orator and diplomat

By  P.J. Patterson Former Prime Minister of Jamaica No matter how close the sources or the length of their acquaintance, it still remains unlikely that the combination of tributes will encompass the full measure of the man. 

Vaughan A. Lewis

A belief in collective action

By Vaughan A. Lewis, Former Prime Minister of St Lucia; Professor Emeritus, Institute of International Relations, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago It is a pleasure to be invited to write a few words on the occasion of Sonny Ramphal’s eightieth birthday, and in so doing, to celebrate the work of one who is, undoubtedly, the Caribbean Community’s most distinguished diplomatist.

Rudy Insanally

A man of ideas

By Rudy Insanally Former Foreign Minister of GuyanaI am pleased to join in this public tribute to Sir Shridath (Sonny) Ramphal on the occasion of his eightieth birthday this year.

Sir Shridath hands Leader of the Opposition Desmond Hoyte a copy of his book, No Island is an Island, 2000 (Stabroek News file photo)

A formidable and well-deserved reputation

By Rashleigh E. Jackson Former Foreign Minister of Guyana The achievements of Sir Shridath  Ramphal are legion; and he is widely respected for his enormous contribution to the promotion of understanding and agreement, regionally and internationally. 

Bryn Pollard

Outstanding achievements

By Bryn Pollard Former Chief Parliamentary Counsel, Guyana; Former Legal Consultant, Caricom It is a privilege and most pleasurable for me to be invited to make this contribution on Sir Shridath’s attainment of his eightieth birthday and to pay a special tribute to him for his outstanding achievements over the past years.

Dr Barton Scotland

A strong advocate for the future of Guyana and the Caribbean

By Dr Barton Scotland Former Senior Diplomat, Ministry of Foreign Affairs The many interviews given by Sonny Ramphal over the course of an illustrious and still very lively career, the several speeches delivered by him and the many studies in which he participated through over four decades of service to Guyana, the Caribbean and the wider international community and the causes which he has advocated and still advocates, attest to his sterling contribution and commitment to ‘goodness’ and ‘fairness’ in the global polity.

Cedric Joseph

A network of diplomacy to secure territorial integrity

By Cedric Joseph Former Guyana High Commissioner to the United Kingdom A small state on the South American mainland, emerging from colonialism that left spurious claims to a substantial part of its territory, with a society enveloped in diversities can bear citizens of many hues, figuratively and literally. 

R.M. Austin

An excellent administrator

By R.M. Austin Former Guyana Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China I had hardly joined the Foreign Ministry in 1973 when I was made Special Assistant to Lloyd Searwar.

Frankly Speaking

Corruption – and Cabinet changes – Perception usually prevails Even as I’ll eschew classic definitions of the term, I felt an urge to offer my “three-cents” bit on the issue of corruption, so current at this time.

History This Week No.41/2008

`The evolution of an education system in 19th century colonial British Guiana’…From the Dutch to British Compulsory Education Ordinance of 1876 By Tota C.

Marginalizing malaria

This article was received from Project Syndicate, an international not-for-profit association of newspapers dedicated to hosting a global debate on the key issues shaping our world.

Frederick Ivor Case

In the Diaspora

To Touch the Beating Heart of the World: Fred Case’s Homecoming Alissa Trotz is Director of Caribbean Studies at the University of Toronto and editor of the weekly In the Diaspora Column.

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