Guyana’s esteemed international statesman, dies at 95

On August 30, just 12 days after the passing of famous singer/songwriter Dave Martins, Guyana – and the wider

region — lost yet another regional luminary. Sir Shridath “Sonny” Ramphal, a respected attorney, politician, and

diplomat, died quietly at the age of 95, surrounded by his children; his wife of 67 years had died five years earlier.

Ramphal was born on October 3, 1928, to an Indian family who had relocated to then-British Guiana under the

indentureship system. He attended King’s College and Gray’s Inn in London. He became, according to his official death notice, “a towering figure in international diplomacy and a cherished elder statesman of the Commonwealth and the Caribbean.”

Though Ramphal admits he “wasn’t a terribly serious student as a youngster,” his father promised him that law and history would provide “a great foundation” for anything he chose to achieve in life. James Ramphal, a schoolteacher, “managed to persuade the colonial authorities to take a more progressive approach to the matter of educating Indian girls.” He instilled in his son a strong belief in the importance of education and the gratification of making a difference in the lives of others.

Early on in Ramphal’s career, which coincided with the region’s independence movement, he was the assistant attorney general of the West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962. His passion for constitutional law intersected with what he called “a great movement that was taking place in the Caribbean […] the movement for federalism.” The region’s attempt at federation would be short-lived; Guyana eventually became independent from Britain in 1966.

From 1972 to 1975, Ramphal served as Guyana’s justice and foreign minister, a position that was followed by his appointment as Commonwealth Secretary-General. He was only the second person to hold the post and, quite notably, remains the longest-serving secretary-general to date, having held the position from 1975 to 1990.

During his tenure in that role, Ramphal worked hard in the fight for racial equality. His role in the struggle to end apartheid was most recently acknowledged in Season 4, Episode 8 of Netflix’s series “The Crown,” in which British actor Tony Jayawardena played Ramphal.

In an article Ramphal published for “The Round Table,” the Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, he recalled: