Shridath Ramphal

The Honourable Sir Sonny Ramphal GCMG AC ONZ OE OCC NIIV OM KC FRSA
Ramphal in 2015
2nd Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations
In office 1 July 1975 – 30 June 1990
Head	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Arnold Smith
Succeeded by	Chief Emeka Anyaoku
2nd Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana
In office 1972–1975
Prime Minister	Forbes Burnham
Preceded by	Forbes Burnham
Succeeded by	Frederick Wills
1st Assistant Attorney General of the West Indies Federation
In office 3 January 1958 – 31 May 1962
Chancellor of the University of the West Indies
In office 1989–2003
Preceded by	Allen Montgomery Lewis
Succeeded by	George Alleyne
Chancellor of the University of Warwick
In office 1989–2002
Preceded by	Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman
Succeeded by	Nick Scheele
Chancellor of the University of Guyana
In office 1990–1992
Personal details
Born	(1928-10-03)3 October 1928 New Amsterdam, Berbice, British Guiana (present-day East Berbice-Corentyne, Guyana)
Died	30 August 2024(2024-08-30) (aged 95)
Spouse(s)	Lois Winifred King ​ ​ (m. 1951;  2019)​
Children	4
Education	Harvard Law School
Alma mater	King's College London (LL.B., LL.M.)

Sir Shridath Surendranath Ramphal GCMG AC ONZ OE OCC NIIV OM KC FRSA (3 October 1928 – 30 August 2024), often known as Sir Sonny Ramphal, was a Guyanese politician who was the second Commonwealth Secretary-General, holding the position from 1975 to 1990. He was also the foreign minister of Guyana from 1972 to 1975, and assistant attorney general of the West Indies Federation from 1958 to 1962.

Ramphal was an Earth Charter International Commission member.

Biography

Ramphal was born in New Amsterdam, British Guiana, to an Indo-Guyanese family, and was the eldest of the five children of Grace and Jimmy Ramphal, a Presbyterian schoolteacher and pioneer of secondary education in the colony, who later became the first Guyanese person to be appointed to a government post when he was made a commissioner in the department of labour soon after the outbreak of the Second World War. One of his grandmothers left British India after refusing to commit sati and emigrated to British Guiana under the Indian indenture system. After attending schools in Georgetown, Ramphal studied law at King's College London, graduating with LL.B. and LL.M. degrees. He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in London in 1951. As a pupil barrister he worked with the British politician and lawyer Dingle Foot. Ramphal continued studying law for a year at Harvard Law School in the US on a 1962 Guggenheim Fellowship.

Ramphal started his legal career as a Crown Counsel in the Attorney-General's Office in 1953, becoming Solicitor-General and then Assistant Attorney-General of the short-lived West Indies Federation. After a period in private practice in Jamaica, he returned to British Guiana in 1965 to be the Attorney General. Two years later, he was also appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs, later becoming Minister of Justice (from 1973) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (from 1972). In 1975, he left Guyana to become Commonwealth Secretary-General.

He also served as the Chancellor of the University of Warwick from 1989 to 2002, of the University of the West Indies from 1989 to 2003, and of the University of Guyana from 1990 to 1992.

During Ramphal's time as Commonwealth Secretary-General, the United Kingdom represented by Margaret Thatcher was found to be in a minority of one on the issue of economic sanctions against apartheid South Africa.

With Ingvar Carlsson, he was in 1995 one of the co-chairs of the Commission on Global Governance, which reported on issues of international development, international security, globalization and global governance.

Ramphal died on 30 August 2024, at the age of 95.

Selected bibliography

• Inseparable Humanity: An Anthology of Reflections (Hansib, 1988)
• Triumph for UNCLOS: The Guyana-Suriname Maritime Arbitration (Hansib, 2008)
• Caribbean Challenges: Sir Shridath Ramphal's Collected Counsel (Hansib, 2012)

Honours and awards

Ramphal was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1966 Birthday Honours. He was knighted in the 1970 New Year Honours, and invested with his knighthood by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 3 February. He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St. George (GCMG) in 1990.

On 26 February 1982, Ramphal was appointed an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia (AC). On 6 February 1990, Ramphal was the 19th appointee to the Order of New Zealand, New Zealand's highest civil honour. He was decorated as a Member of the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC) in the first conferment in 1992. In May 2006 Ramphal was appointed an Honorary Fellow of Royal Society of Arts. He was a vice-president of the Royal Commonwealth Society. The Ramphal Building at the University of Warwick was named in his honour.

In 2002, Rampal was awarded the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize. In 2003, he was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the President of India.

In popular culture

Ramphal is portrayed by Tony Jayawardena in the fourth season of the Netflix web television series The Crown.

Further reading

• Richard Bourne, Shridath Ramphal: The Commonwealth and the World (Hansib, 2009)

External links

• • Transcript of the interview, part one
  • Transcript of the interview, part two
• The Ramphal Institute - Official website for the continuation of the work of Sir Shridath Ramphal: promoting good governance, economic development and social justice around the world.