Celebrating Sir Shridath Surendranath 'Sonny' Ramphal: Chancellor's Medal Presentation at UWI Cave Hill Campus

Citation delivered by Professor Emeritus Sir Henry Fraser on the occasion of the presentation of the Chancellor’s Medal to Sir Shridath Surendranath ‘Sonny’ Ramphal at UWI, Cave Hill Campus on October 20, 2011

Chancellor, Shakespeare would surely have said there was an auspicious alignment of the planets on October 3rd, 1928. For on that day was born, in the Land of Many Waters, forests and gold, a shining star, under the sign of Libra, regarded by astrologers as the most desirable sign of all. And if you will forgive me, Chancellor, for a brief suspension of our scientific side and medical training, I will read the astrologer’s description of a Libra, born under the sign of the scales of justice: “Diplomatic and urbane, easygoing and sociable, idealistic and peaceable; blessed with great poise and composure; kind and gentle, a lover of harmony and beauty. Able to withstand difficult times without complaint; embrace new ideas and take risks, self-sufficient and logical, and does well in a career using powers of analytical reasoning.” There you have a word-perfect description of Shridath Surendranath Sonny Ramphal, GCMG, AC, ONZ, OE, OM, QC, FRSA and all the other letters of the alphabet, in dozens of different combinations, denoting his dozens of distinctions.

Sonny was born in New Amsterdam, grandson of an indentured Indian immigrant boy of 9, arriving with his widowed mother on the good ship Ellora, on January 5th, 1881. Sonny is immensely proud of the heroic three voyages and two indentures of his great-grandmother. His grandfather became a teacher, and his father James, in turn, a leading educator and principal of his own private secondary school, the Modern Educational Institute. He later became the first local Commissioner of Labour and a member of the Legislative Council of British Guiana, and it was in a home environment focused on education that our hero grew up. He has said that his father’s passionate belief in the basic goodness within all men made a deep impression on him. His sister Indrani tells the story of his being taken to a fair at the age of five by his father, and seeing another small boy outside, his face to the fence but not going in. When he asked his father why this little boy wasn’t going in, his father said, “Perhaps he has no money”, and Sonny said, “Well if he can’t go in, then I won’t either”, whereon his father paid for both to go in.

The first in a family of five, his grandmother chose the traditional names of Shridath and Surendranath – the name of a famous Indian politician and a famous educator of a century ago. But his mother had a problem with such tongue-twisting names, and he’s been called Sonny from day one until today, 30 312 days later!

After a promising school career, and promise of leadership, he proceeded to London, to study law. He was called to the bar at Gray’s Inn in 1951 and acquired the LLM at King’s College along with the Arden and Atkin Prize – thus fulfilling the dual symbolism of the law and Libra’s scales of justice. He worked part-time with the famous Dingle Foot, the Liberal Party Leader, and in the Colonial Office – wonderful ways to wet his legal and political feet – and returned to British Guiana in 1953, as Crown Counsel, Attorney General’s Office.

He became passionate about the West Indian Federation and joined the new Federal Government in 1958 as legal draughtsman and in 1961 Assistant Attorney General. But when the secession of Jamaica and the modern maths of Dr. Eric Williams – 1 from 10 leaves nought – led to collapse of the Federation, he assuaged his disappointment with a year at Harvard on a Guggenheim Fellowship, and then three years in Jamaica, broadening his Caribbean experience in the Western Caribbean frontiers of Kingston. His return to Guyana as Attorney General in 1965, drafting Guyana’s Independence constitution, was followed by appointment as Foreign Minister. This meteoric rise of Guyana’s shining star, if you will forgive another allusion to the heavenly bodies, Chancellor, was to lead to even greater things – a major role on the global stage.

It was in this decade from 1965 to 1975 that he stamped himself as the distinctive spokesman of the Caribbean in World Affairs. His distinctive voice – both stentorian and mellifluous – his dynamism and his self-confidence, and his elegant and articulate turn of phrase could both persuade and convert. And so by 1975, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Kingston, he was unanimously appointed the Commonwealth’s second Secretary-General – and the first from the Third World.

This next phase of his career saw him re-elected for a total of three five year terms as Secretary-General. He had hit the ground running, as it were, challenging a statement by Henry Kissinger that the international economic system had worked well. He argued that developing countries had not been well served by it, and he stressed the need and the urgency of greater North-South cooperation. His proactive approach changed the face – and the reality – of the Commonwealth. He famously said: “The Commonwealth cannot negotiate for the world, but it can help the world to negotiate.” His leadership role in resolving the crisis in Zimbabwe, and in dismantling apartheid in South Africa, will go down in history. In the words of Richard Brown “he used the power of ideas and the power of persuasion”, although for some, like Britain’s Iron Lady of those days, he was very much a thorn in the side of a convenient colonial conspiracy. And like all leaders he has not avoided controversy — A hero to many, perhaps an angel to some, but as readers of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons will recognise, even angels can be controversial!

Sir Shridath used the technique of the expert group, bringing together experts from different countries and backgrounds to make recommendations to governments, and this was to become an important global practice. On departing from Marlborough House and the Commonwealth Secretariat at the youthful age of 61, he had achieved a global voice and reputation that was in huge demand. Indeed, he has the unique distinction of being a member of all five Independent International Commissions on Development, Disarmament, Environment, Humanitarian Issues and the South Commission; and his speeches, his writings and his books continue to resonate.

At this time of Arab Revolution and the Arab Spring, his wonderful words on peace are especially powerful and inspiring. Giving the Indira Gandhi Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, in 1987, he said: “None of us anywhere, in the First World or the Third, can speak of peace, but listen only to the drums of war. We cannot yearn for peace, but live by an ethos of power. We cannot pray for peace, but nurture hate and prejudice and selfishness in our hearts. The peace of the world comes from within each and every one of the people who inhabit it. For every one of us, in however small a measure, peace is in our keeping.” And as Sir Alister McIntyre said in his foreword to Inseparable Humanity – An Anthology of Reflections of Shridath Ramphal: “His contributions deserve no mere commendation; they warrant exceptional praise.”

And his two terms, totalling 14 years, as Chancellor of our own University of the West Indies, and his chairmanship of the West Indian Commission and role as Chief Negotiator for CARICOM, have integrated his global vision with our Caribbean dreams, challenges and realities. In many ways he has embodied the Caribbean dream, and the visions of the University of the West Indies and our extended family.

Master of the mot juste, the meaningful metaphor, the telling phrase, and the profound encapsulation of the perfect truth that makes a difference in the minds of his listeners and clinches the argument, he is also, to the delight of every audience, a brilliant raconteur, with a Shakespearean delivery and impeccable timing of his punch line. He could be provocative, inspiring or humorous, and I recall his famous Gandhi quote: “Mahatma Gandhi was once asked what he thought of western civilisation. He reflected for a while, and then answered cautiously: ‘I think it would be a good idea’.”

Chancellor, Sir Shridath has lived several prodigious lives in his four score years plus three. His achievements are legion, and his name is forever honoured in the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services on our campus. In the words, once more, of Sir Alister McIntyre, “he is an international humanist in the finest sense of the word”. He has been showered with blessings and showered with praise, honours and awards from many nations, and honorary degrees from two dozen universities. He is twice be-knighted – Knight bachelor in 1970 and Knight Grand Cross of St Michael and St George, in 1990, and many times ordered – from the Order of the Sun, Grand Cross, of Peru, to the Order of the Supreme Companions of O.R. Tambo, Gold, of South Africa, and most precious of all, the Order of the Caribbean Community. Indeed, he is so well ordered, he must be the tidiest man in the country. And speaking of country, this citizen of the planet Earth, who is equally at home in Guyana or India, Jamaica, Barbados or Britain, has shown great medical wisdom in his choice of retirement home – an ancient pile called Pleasant Hall, on this little rock, Barbados, our little country which could fit into the middle of a river in the land of his birth – because he knows he has much more to give to the world, and he knows that Barbados is the country where the most people live to a hundred!

Chancellor, encomia of praise for the work of this ‘Sonny of the Soil’, this legal luminary and generous heart, this husband, father and friend, this orator and raconteur, photographer and chef, this great Caribbean leader and World Statesman, and most of all, this glorious Chancellor of our UWI, the Light out of the West, have filled many volumes and could consume the night before us. So let me simply end with the words of Guyanese poet David Dabydeen: “Shridath, pathway to a golden sun”, and invite you, Chancellor, in recognition of his signal, substantial and lasting contribution to the University of the West Indies, to present Sir Shridath Surendranath Sonny Ramphal with the Chancellor’s Medal.

Sir Henry Fraser is Professor Emeritus of Medicine and the founding dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the UWI at Cave Hill.