In the last three decades of the 20th century Sonny Ramphal was at or near the centre of world affairs. He was the chief architect of the Lomé Convention, that imaginative partnership between rich countries, the European Union, and poor countries, the ACP group, which promised so much for a fairer world until it fell foul of the free market fanatics of a more selfish time. As Secretary-General of the Commonwealth he participated in countless international crises and debates and in particular powerfully assisted in the birth of a democratic, apartheid-free South Africa. He was the indispensable common denominator – no one else belonged to them all – in the work of the five great international Commissions which formulated a comprehensive vision of a better world: the Brandt Commission on Development; the Palme Commission on Disarmament and Security; the World Commission on Environment and Development; the Independent Commission on International Humanitarian Issues; and the South Commission on the major problems facing Third World countries. He was the dynamo in them all. It was an almost unbelievably unique summons to duty. Imagine the time, the researched knowledge, the daily stint of hard work and thought, the fervour devoted to these five great blueprints for humanity.
