Haslyn Parris, a scholar and constitutional expert who had served as Deputy Prime Minister under the PNC government, passed away yesterday at the age of 75.
Stabroek News was told that Parris’ sudden death was as the result of an aneurysm. He passed at Dr Balwant Singh’s Hospital.
Parris, who held degrees in Mathematics, Econo-mics and Economics specialising in Statistics, had served as a member of the Guyana Elections Com-mission (Gecom) and had helped to shepherd the constitution reform process between 1999 and 2000. More recently, he was named a member of the Steering Committee set up to lay the groundwork for a constitutional reform process.
President David Granger yesterday offered condolences to Parris’ family on behalf of the PNCR, the coalition and the government of Guyana. The President spoke of Parris’ contributions to the public service throughout his life, mentioning his role as a former Minister of Government and Chairman of the Bauxite Company. “He will be sorely missed. He was surely one of the bright young Guyanese in the 70s and his contributions would have had a great impact on the economy and on society in general,” Granger stated.
When contacted yesterday, Gecom Chairman Dr Steve Surujbally expressed his sincere condolences to Parris’ family and commented that he was very saddened to hear of his passing.
“Our swords crossed from time to time but not on any great or meaningful issues,” Surujbally said, later adding that conversations with Parris were always pleasurable, and knowing he would not have such opportunity again was impacting. “All of his contributions to Gecom were sterling, solid, constructive and superlative. He was an asset,” he said.
Surujbally also expressed his regret at not being able to complete the review of a book recently written by Parris and spoke as well of Parris’ intentions to embark on an analysis of voting trends across Guyana following the recently concluded local government elections.
Parris was also a member of the PNCR.
Oscar Clarke, General Secretary of the party, was still trying to process the news of Parris’ passing yesterday. “Although death is a part of life you cannot help but be shocked,” he said.
He noted that the shock was worse as he had not known Parris was ailing. Clarke offered his condolences to Parris’ wife and family on behalf of the party.
Parris, who was awarded the Cacique’s Crown of Honour (CCH), began his career as a teacher at Queen’s College and later held the posts of Chief Economist at the Central Bank of Guyana, Chief Executive Officer at Guybau and Guymine, Chairman of the Bauxite Industry Development Company, Chairman of the State Planning Commis-sion and Deputy Prime Minister responsible for Planning and Development until 1991.
He was also an author, having published six books, including two volumes of essays and two volumes of short stories. One of his short stories, “Coolie Tom Puss,” sparked much controversy after it was first published in the 2001 Guyana Christmas Annual.
But Parris was better known for his work as a part of the constitutional reform process. Parris had served as Secretary to the National Assembly’s Oversight Committee that oversaw the drafting of the reforms, during which, among other things, term limits were set for the presidency and rights commissions were instituted.
He had then taken it upon himself to pen an annotated handbook on the report of the 1999 Consti-tution Reform Commis-sion, a tome (according to the summary description) “intended to facilitate the informed involvement of ordinary Guyanese citizens, and all others who may be interested, in the evolutionary process that appears to be leading in the direction of ‘inclusive governance’ for Guyana.”
