“Caribbean owes Sir Shridath more than a debt of gratitude” – Caricom Chairman

…as regional leaders recognise stalwart’s contributions to integration movement

Sir Shridath ‘Sonny’ Ramphal had worn many caps during his illustrious life, and on Saturday, during his funeral service of national honour at the Promenade Gardens in Georgetown, leaders from the Caribbean Community (Caricom), to which he had contributed so much, paid tribute to his stellar contributions to regional integration.
Caricom Chairman, Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, noted that Sir Shridath had served as one of the key architects of the regional integration movement, including arguably the most important one of all: the formation of Caricom itself.
“Last year Caricom marked its 50th anniversary as a regional integration movement. It was fortuitous that during our celebratory events, held in Trinidad and Tobago, the conference of Caricom Heads of Government had the opportunity to listen to the words of wisdom of Sir Shridath Ramphal, albeit for the last time, imploring us to stay the course,” Mitchell said.

“Sir Shridath was deeply involved in the creation of the short-lived West Indian Federation, the Caribbean Free Trade Area (CARIFTA), and later the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), helping to shape the regional architecture through its guiding manual – the original Treaty of Chaguaramas, which was signed in July, 1973. Caricom owes Sir Shridath Ramphal more than a debt of gratitude for his sterling contribution to regional integration,” the Caricom Chairman declared.
Mitchell also hailed Sir Shridath’s legendary work as Chairman of the West Indian Commission which was mandated in 1989 by Caricom to undertake consultations with Caribbean people on issues pertaining to social, cultural, and economic development; and further was tasked with making recommendations.

“The groundbreaking report, ‘A Time For Action’, covered insightful and strategic recommendations on the critical issues, including government, politics, finance, trade and industry, social and civic partnerships, communication, education, youth and gender,” Mitchell declared.

“The Association of Caribbean States, which connects Caricom with the wider Caribbean and Central America, marked its thirtieth anniversary in July of this year, and this is an enduring product of the recommendations in the report from Sir Shridath on deepening and widening the greater Caribbean integration movement,” Mitchell explained.

Regional integration
Describing himself as a friend and student of Sir Shridath Ramphal, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves also took the podium to pay tribute to Ramphal’s many contributions to Caricom.
He said Ramphal’s efforts at regional integration were not always met with success. This includes the time in 2003 when Gonsalves chaired a prime ministerial sub-committee that was tasked with giving effect to the Rose Hall Declaration that aimed to improve regional integration.
“The Head of the Group of Experts to assist us was Sonny Ramphal. We thus toiled in comradeship. We did excellent work together, produced magnificent reports, and essayed splendid conclusions. Four years later, in 2007, Caricom sadly kicked the can further down the road. It is yet to be retrieved,” Dr Gonsalves disclosed.
“In 2007, Sonny Ramphal was 79 years old. He was disappointed at our collective failure. It was evident then, and still evident today, that our region is yet to exorcise the ghost of the failure of our federal past,” Dr Gonsalves declared.
Nevertheless, Dr Gonsalves noted, Ramphal approached this failure with his customary optimism. He recalled that Ramphal’s exact words to him were words of encouragement to “turn this setback into an advance.” (G3)