Tribute to Sir Lloyd Erskine Sandiford KA, PC

Dear Editor,
The Guyanese public and its politicians have had hot and cold relationships with Barbados Prime Ministers over the years but none of the seven former PMs, save the Rt Excellent Errol Walton Barrow, have been as consistently popular with Guyanese as have Sandiford and Stuart. Perhaps that popularity was due as much to their mannerisms as to their interest in Guyana.
Sandiford wore many hats after first entering politics as a member of Errol Barrow’s party (DLP). He has been a Senator and his subsequent assignments included that of Minister of Education and Deputy PM in 1986 but he retained an abiding interest in education throughout. He taught economics and Caribbean politics at Barbados Community College for several years and was a very passionate advocate for things educational. He was also committed to the ‘Caribbean project’ in its widest sense as evidenced in his participation to the Grand Anse Declaration, for example. Those persons familiar with Barbadian politics and its history will also associate him with the eponymous Conference Centre and for which initiative he took a great deal of flack. It is an appropriate and fitting monument to a man who though he contributed much. He was quiet, tenacious and scholarly.
Lloyd Erskine Sandiford rose to the pinnacle of his country’s political structure during what turned out to be one of the most trying, if not tumultuous, decades in the Caribbean’s post-war history. That epoch witnessed the demise of some of the Region’s most well-known, and controversial figures including Walter Rodney 1980, Maurice Bishop of Grenada in 1983, Burnham of Guyana in 1985, and Errol Barrow in 1987. It was the latter event which catapulted the then Deputy PM Sandiford into the post of Prime Minister of Barbados, a position he held for over seven years. He earned that preferment in what were trying times not only for the Caribbean as a whole but for Barbados and the Region’s Ministers of Finance.
The times were the outcome of the intensification of globalisation and world trade. With the globalisation came the rapid transmission and spread of unfavourable economic trends and shocks among states. Not surprisingly, concerns about growth, income disparities within and among states and growing levels of poverty and marginalisation in the Region, abounded. The OECS as a whole, except Dominica, managed to avoid this turmoil. Elsewhere in the Region, however, major economic reforms in the guise of structural adjustment programmes overseen or imposed by the Bretton Woods (BW) institutions had to be undertaken in order to secure support to correct internal and external economic imbalances arising from slow or inadequate responses to significant external changes. The Bretton Woods recommendations included trade reforms intended to open-up economies to the winds of international competition. The consequences were particularly severe for Guyana, indeed such severity was arguably not experienced by any other IMF member states until the 2008 crisis struck the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland Greece and Spain].
I mention all this in the context of PM Sandiford because he came to the office of PM and Minister of Finance of Barbados (1991-1993 following Dr Richie Haynes) against the foregoing background of demands for fiscal restraint) across the Region. The governments of T&T and Jamaica embraced the Bretton Woods structural adjustment programmes. Guyana initially sought to avoid these programmes by implementing its own self-crafted programme, intended to establish a track record and attract resources for a Resource Mobilisation Mission which was to follow 1987. That effort preceded Guyana’s Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) and a Social Impact Amelioration Programme (SIMAP) to help absorb the adverse effects of the measures and the devaluation of the Guyana dollar on the poor in particular. Guyana did not have enough fiscal or foreign exchange space to manage the measures without sizeable external assistance especially because of the implications of debt overhang and inadequate Paris Club and related rescheduling arrangements.
I also mention this experience because Guyana was at the time having to mobilise Caribbean and other support for its efforts to secure breathing space for those measures of adjustment, having resisted the excesses of the BW programmes, which the then government felt were not only economically harsh but deliberately intended to be politically damaging to the government critical of the Bretton Woods approach and their masters, the OECD states. We sought and eventually secured regional support in calling for better and more appropriate financial assistance as well as more relevant conditionalities. As PM of Barbados, Sandiford joined the Caribbean Ministers who constituted the regional ‘team’ that collaborated in formulating a Caribbean approach to the treatment of Guyana. They would often share their draft speeches and make suggestions for improvement. Sandiford was a valued member of that team of Caricom Ministers most of whom were PMs holding the portfolio of Finance.
In dealing with its own economic and financial challenges Barbados, under PM Sandiford was able to hold a line somewhat different from that of T&T, Jamaica. Like Guyana initially, it attempted to address its economic internal and external disequilibria by implementing its own adjustment package which were of necessity severe though not as severe as Guyana’s. Although the economy initially appeared to be improving in response to those measures, (reducing expenditures, increasing revenues and prices – decreases in capital investment, wage and employment freezes in the public sector and decreases in PE expenditures) the turnaround was not sufficient. Additional measures called for by the BW institutions and resisted by the Sandiford administration included the devaluation of the Barbados dollar. In the face of severe pressures in this regard the Sandiford government preferring instead to pursue tighter fiscal measures, a position which was strongly supported by a significant segment of the populace. However, unemployment levels remained stubbornly high at an estimated 25% of the labour force. Sandiford was criticised in the process for being stubborn and authoritarian. There were persistent calls for him to resign. His popularity suffered and the party lost the 1994 general elections he called as a result of a no-confidence motion and the defection of MPs from his party.
When subsequently asked about his approach to that crisis, Sandiford is reported to have said to Jamaican journalist, Cliff Hughes, that ‘the price I paid was small compared to the good that came to the country’. In a sense this mirrored the views of Hugh Desmond Hoyte, his Guyanese counterpart and friend who had also perished at the polls two years earlier as a result of putting national interest before that of Party. Sandiford is widely remembered and admired for that position and his resoluteness in the face of adversity and criticisms.
Throughout all of this, Lloyd Sandiford remained a most thoughtful and warm person. For the reasons relating to the coincidence of our responsibility for Finance we had the opportunity to meet and exchange thoughts of the challenges. During the period 1987-1992 when we both held the MoF portfolios I had cause to consult him very many times as regards interventions on behalf of Guyana and formulation of common Caribbean positions. He maintained the same calm and easy demeanour in the course of discussions with his officers as well as with other Heads such as Sonny Mitchell, Eugenia Charles and John Compton in particular. He was ever attentive and respectful.
He also maintained a strong involvement in Caricom and the drive to the Single Market and Economy and was PM of Barbados when the Grand Anse Declaration was signed in 1989. He was an ardent advocate of economic cooperation in the Region and beyond. He played a very prominent role in bringing international conferences to the Region amongst which was that which led to the Barbados Plan of Action. The now dormant Association of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians (ACCP) was partly his handiwork and owed its establishment to his government.
Moreover, he was not afraid to speak his mind on behalf of either Barbados or the Region. His criticism of US foreign trade policy and its harmful effects on Caricom trade was noted by the New York Times, for example.
I have a special reason to keep a warm spot for the former PM because he was in the chair when Caribbean Heads approved the slate of regional candidates who were to be supported for international posts including that of the Secretary General of the ACP Group of States. He was still there when Guyana’s then President sought to rescind that decision and to replace me as the Region’s candidate. The resistance of Caricom’s Ministers of Finance, with whom I had previous had the privilege of working was led by the Caricom Chairman, PM Sandiford. In this regard, the Region then created ACP history by taking the unusual step of nominating a candidate on behalf of the entire Region as opposed to the country, Guyana, for which the candidate was the national.
Lady Angelita Sandiford has been very friendly and well-informed companion of the former PM. I have had the privilege of speaking with her several times over the years. Just as her spouse’s warmth never flagged so too her kindness and warmth remained unflagging. I know from those conversations how much they valued the assignment to China as Barbados’ Ambassador. The Sandifords were clearly proud to have been afforded the opportunity to be so preferred by his successor, a great piece of diplomacy by the than Government. They enjoyed showcasing Barbados’ industry, its achievements and novelty in the circumstances.
Sandiford was also an author. He published several serious and interesting contributions among them, a book on politics and society in Barbados which a reviewer described as ‘an excellent historical and contemporary analysis’ and ‘a must read’. Among his contributions to serious analysis is an introductory text on economics. He also published an autobiographical note entitled, ‘Fighting for the Just Society’ and would be proud to be remembered as a fighter for that goal. I can only agree that in that context the ascription would be apt. Most interestingly, he also wrote poetry amongst which is an intriguing piece entitled, ‘When she leaves you.’ I have not yet had the privilege of perusing that contribution but have resolved to find it to both learn the object of the message and the remedy. Maybe his autobiography has some clues.
Lloyd Erskine Sandiford has lived a fruitful life. He was a notable statesman, politician and author as well as a remarkable son of the Region.
I join his colleagues, friends and citizens of Barbados in extending sincere condolences to Lady Angelita, their three children, the extended Sandiford family members and their relatives.

Sincerely,
Carl B. Greenidge
Former 2nd Vice
President of the
Cooperative Guyana