Dear Editor,
My early days as a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Guyana were extremely exciting and rewarding and one of the Guyanese colleagues with whom I made friends with at UG was Stanley Alfred Moore. Many persons who went abroad to study and to seek professional advancement and formal qualifications were in the process of returning to Guyana. Many Caribbean nationals, stimulated by the works of Guyanese such as National poet Martin Carter, Walter Rodney, Beryl Gilroy and Caribbean, writers helped trigger an influx of Caribbean nationals into Guyana. That influx of Caribbean and Third World nationals came to Guyana to contribute to the development of the society and to help open up the hinterland. The range of employees at the University reflected this and in Social Sciences alone one could find Nigerians, Ghanaians, Indian nationals and South Africans. Amongst those in the Law and Political Sciences Department were Stanley Moore, the late Perry Mars and Paul Singh et al.
The University of Guyana, led by Dr Dennis Ervine as Vice Chancellor, who made his name as a Professor of Chemistry in Nigeria and the Caribbean and Dr Leslie Cummings, geographer and statistician, who had bult a professional career in Papua New Guinea and the USA. Many enduring friendships were built in those times and Stanley Moore was among the friends I made from among lecturers recruited by the UG administration there. In 1974 I encountered Stanley Moore who was teaching law while I taught economics and agricultural economics mostly for classes set in the evenings. [When I reflect on those times I recall Stanley Moore whose law lectures were delivered in lecture rooms next to those in which I took classes. I recall those law classes primarily because at times they seemed somewhat riotous. But before I focus on the relationship let me address my relationship with Mr. Stanley Moore.]
Those events seem so long ago and were so intense that many of the specifics have been forgotten. Looking back I now have the impression that Stanley and I, since the 1970s, we had not met at all but thanks to my notes and the internet my memory was refreshed. We actually met quite a few times in say the last five years and it may have appeared otherwise because of the change in intensity that took place post-1979. The significance of 1979 lies in the fact that Stanley Moore was appointed Minister of Home Affairs while I was seconded to the State Planning Commission to set up the Secretariat. Subsequent to that our meetings were somewhat infrequent. I left Guyana and Stanley left the MoHA whilst I spent time in the GDR studying their approach to and problems with economic planning. In time we both moved away and worked in different parts of the world. But I am moving too quickly.
I met Stanley Moore soon after my appointment to the Academic Board. However, much of our collaboration took place outside of the Campus itself and its classrooms. When I met Stanley at UG, the Government was in an interface with the Vice Chancellor (VC) and to their credit utilized experienced and interested staff who were willing to work on projects for which there was a skills need. The VC at the time, the longest serving and most influential of the VCs encouraged staff to take up these challenges. Dr. Ervine, a Jamaican and probably the most distinguished of the VCs was able to encourage staff to contribute to meeting national needs and to persuade the PM and Cabinet to utilize the skills of the University to address national challenges.
Stanley Moore and I were asked to participate in one such challenge, a committee of enquiry into the workings and disjunctures between the executive and the Berbice Region as well as Demerara and the executive. On the Committee were Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr. Balram Raghubir. During that exercise I had the opportunity to drive with Stanley Moore to and from N.A and WCB to Berbice. During that time I learned of his penchants, his sense of humour, his interest in justice as well as his work and interests. I found him to be a formidable cross examiner, persistent and incisive. Perhaps this was a reflection of his attentiveness to detail. Stanley was a colleague with a very enquiring mind. I once saw him dissect a newspaper advert, little more than a photograph. He was quite astonishing in making sense of intent and of the significance of dress and pose.
Once when working on the Berbice exercise, Stanley stopped at my residence to work on a draft report. In the course of wandering around the sitting room among the posters of Isaac Hayes’ Black Moses, the Ohio Players and the O’JAYS, displayed on the wall, his attention was caught by the painting of a donkey cart and driver moving along one of GTs streets. He enquired as to the full name of the artist and whether I knew the person. I explained that Mr. Pat Stoll was a former Headmaster whose residence, or rather that of his siblings and probably his parents could be found at Creen and Norton Sts Werk-en-Rust. He enquired a little further then laughed when Pat Stoll turned out to be both of our Godfathers! I do not recall exactly why that connection came about. I knew that the Stolls’ were from Essequibo and Stanley and I were both born in New Amsterdam.
Whilst working on the Enquiry, we travelled together a great deal and that gave me an insight into Moore who was very much a man of the 1930/1940s generation whose education was steeped in the humanities and classics. This was reflected in the formidable grasp and display of language. He was very articulate with more than a touch of drama and I recall that one afternoon on the way back from Number 8, West Coast Berbice he related a calypso with which I was unfamiliar. The lyrics, Sparrow’s handiwork, reflected a similar theme to that of Lord Nelson’s ‘Dove and Pigeon’ which related to competition and envy between former friends. The Calypso was Sparrow’s ‘Lion and Donkey’ and you’ll see from the lyrics that it has a risque element (hinting at sex or sexual content – a little naughty) which those who know Stanley well would appreciate. (Lion and Donkey by Mighty Sparrow).
In similar mold, Stanley and his generation of legal practitioners seemed to have memorized all the funny stories, mis-deeds and unconvincing excuses they heard in the corridors of the Court-rooms when they practiced. Consequently, their classes which, as it happens, were housed in the rooms next door to mine were something else. On more than one occasion the neighbouring classes would erupt without warning into a near riot. One minute there had been a ‘normal lecture’ in progress and the next there would uncontrollable laughter, shouting and utter disorder. On checking, either Stanley Moore or more usually his professional colleague E.A Richards Esq. would be seen at the head of the class relating or demonstrating a principle or rule with the aid of a hilarious story.
I attended a university in the UK with largest law school outside of Oxbridge and would often have to console law students who had been traumatized by the numbing narratives and reading doled out to them by their lecturers, and they had had topics other than land law and tort for example, known to be boring. They had sexy topics such as European law, a new and sexy topic at the time. They never related experiences such as those from which Richards and Moore’s students benefitted. As for economics, it seemed that something was also missing from my discipline because, I could not muster so much humour in my lectures, seemed largely alien to economics.
Of course that difference was not attributable only to differences between the subjects but largely the different character of the two men. Stanley Moore like, Desmond Hoyte, Hubert Jack and even Fred Wills, rarely missed an opportunity to regale listeners with some hilarious tale or other. Stanley Moore had a great sense of humour. Indeed, it was difficult not to believe that he did not spend his student days or much of his youth in the theatre – he supplemented his tales with all the appropriate antics, gestures or facial expressions. He could have made it on the stage if he found the Bar too trying. He had a sense of humour and was funny.
Some universities wisely utilize their most senior and experienced staff members to take first year courses for this reason – to maintain students’ interest, to expose students to relevant and real life experiences of the discipline and to keep the exposure and examples real and realistic. Unlike many UG law students and lecturers today, both the lecturers in question had worldly employment experience prior to undertaking law studies. As a former Chief Labour Officer in the Department of Labour, Richards seemed to have had at his disposal an exceptionally large basket of humourous tales which he had harvested from his years at Labour.
Having served a relatively short term as Minister of Home Affairs, Stanley returned to Chambers on South Road. He was a principal of McKay and Moore, one of the most prestigious Chambers in Guyana. He eventually migrated to the Caribbean in order take up judicial posts abroad as a judge in Botswana as well as Swaziland, now proudly known as the Kingdom ofEswatini. During those years and I believe during his stay in the Bahamas, I recall walking deep in thoughts along the seashore. In my subconscious I heard the sound of a nearby car horn which I ignored. Shortly afterwards, a car pulled up and the driver stepped out and crossed the road. I again ignored the development until someone called out my name. When I looked in the direction of the call, there stood Stanley Moore. It had been many years since I last saw hm.
Stanley was a very interesting colleague, dignified, extremely articulate and with a penchant for language and vocabulary. He served as a principal in one of the prominent Chambers in the City and was well respected on the Campus and in the fraternity. He maintained his standing as a gifted legal luminary when he left Guyana. I remember him affectionately as a long-standing friend who always greeted me with a smile and invariably had warm words and kind thoughts to share with friends such as myself. He has made his mark here among us and had a long and distinguished ‘innings’. I extend to his wife Cheryl and their children my wishes for their good health and success. May his soul rest in peace.
Sincerely,
Carl Greenidge
