By Sir James Mitchell
Former Prime Minister of
St Vincent & the Grenadines
I was a Minister of Trade, Agriculture , Labour and Tourism when I first met Sir Shridath Ramphal at a Carifta conference in Guyana in the sixties. He was then Sonny Ramphal.
Colleagues at the time were George Ferguson of Barbados, Robert Lightbourne of Jamaica, Kamaluddin Mohammed of Trinidad and Tobago, and our secretary general was the formidable Trinidadian, Willie Demas.
Going to Guyana every three months was a regular ritual. The meetings were heralded with a cocktail party in the evening, where the booming voice of President Forbes Burnham rang through the air. Our task then was not simply to deal with matters of trade, like the absorption of the Oils and Fats Agreement into the purview of Carifta, but to spawn all the other regional organisations for other ministries that became institutions in their own right, under the umbrella of the Caribbean Secretariat.
The drafting skills of Sonny Ramphal were always drawn upon. Jamaica at that time was served by a brilliant batch of civil servants, and I was always embarrassed to witness the documentation they presented on every topic. We the politicians from the small islands had to rely on our own intellect and intuition.
I remember clearly when the regional issue of Anguilla’s separation from St Kitts/Nevis reached our agenda. St Kitts/Nevis was looking for a Caribbean statement in support of a paper by Sir Hugh Wooding. I had managed to see a copy of the document before leaving St Vincent for the meeting, and did not like it.
But the Wooding confidential report was not available to the meeting. When the conference was about to pass the anti-Anguilla resolution condemning the British intervention, and I had by that time discovered that few ministers had seen the document we were endorsing, I thundered that should such a statement be issued to the press, I would hold my own press conference and reveal that the conference had passed judgement on what they had not read, and without advice from the people of Anguilla. Anguilla was left alone. “That island is now a thriving success story, and retired prime minister of St Kitts/Nevis, Sir Kennedy Simmonds, who led that country to independence, is now practising medicine there.”
We all found it fascinating that Sonny was to become a knight of the realm in the last set of honours before the Guyana constitution was changed and the queen was no longer titular head of state. Knighthoods could not be flaunted in the Burnham socialist regime, but Sonny had his full deserts to be aired on the international stage. It was from that base at Carifta meetings in Georgetown that a select band of ministers moved to Brussels for the first meeting of African, Caribbean and Pacific nations, where the Caribbean nations template became the framework of the first Lomé Convention.
I will venture to state that Sir Shridath is the Caribbean’s most successful international statesman. I have witnessed his career emerge from the green-velvet conference rooms in Guyana to the sophisticated settings beside presidents and prime ministers at Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings. His postings on international commissions followed in train. He was the longest-serving Secretary General of the Commonwealth, having served three terms. Since then the rules have changed, and the leadership of that august institution changes more frequently.
Sonny’s last assignment was with Sir Alister McInyre on our Regional Negotiating Machinery, which was set up when Sonny’s international missions were concluded. I remember well their detailed analysis on bananas and sugar, which assisted our ministerial battles with Europe, Latin America and the United States. We secured the extension of protection in the European market from 1993 to 2005. It was tough going.
What the Guyanese, with their nervous history, think of Sir Shridath, their famous intellect, is not for me to judge. I make the comparison, wondering how the Fijians feel when their Vijay Singh assumes the pinnacle in the world of golf.
I wish Sir Shridath a Happy Eightieth Birthday, and the best of good health in the future.
